UK's PM-in-waiting vows to rip up politics as usual

Burnham outlines vision for big change in Britain

MANCHESTER:

Andy Burnham, Britain's prime minister-in-waiting, vowed on Monday to de-liver radical change to the nation's politics by handing more power to its regions and encourag-ing collaboration over argument in a 10-year mission to spur "good" growth.

In a speech at the People's History Museum in Manchester, "one of my favourite places on earth", Burnham offered some detail of his plans if, as expected, he becomes Britain's seventh prime minister in a decade as soon as July 20.

Promising Britain's "biggest rebalancing of power", he said he would build more social hous-ing, give local governments more control over water and other utilities and take on a cost-of-living crisis, all while sticking to the current government's fiscal rules.

To standing ovations, Burnham again said his blueprint would be based on his work as Greater Manchester mayor in northwestern England, where his focus on delivering promises meant get-ting businesses, local politicians and community groupsinvolved.

And in a pointed comment to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said he was stepping down last week, he said he would end "the business as usual" approach to politics which he described as failing to lift the living standards of so many in the country.

BURNHAM PROMISES TO BE A CIRCUIT BREAKER

"I am going to give Britain the circuit breaker it needs by building a more collaborative politics in Westminster, by taking power out of the centre and putting it in the hands of the people and places who can use it best," he

told an audience that included other regional mayors and Man-chester-based lawmakers.