Latest news with #Burnham
New Statesman
a day ago
- Business
- New Statesman
Non-voters are Nigel Farage's secret weapon
Photo by Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images On Saturday (31 May) Andy Burnham launched a broad critique of the government. 'I believe you do have to take on the right,' the mayor of greater Manchester told a crowd in London, 'but what's the best way to do that?' Definitely not by aping their rhetoric' he added. 'We see from Canada and Australia that a strong, confident left, which leans into what we believe, rather than tilting the other way, can win and can win well.' He is mostly (but not entirely) right. Two things are driving voters towards Reform UK: the cost of living and immigration. The government can't compete with Reform on immigration and it shouldn't try to – that is a conversation owned by Farage right now. And this idea bubbles under the surface of Burnham's criticism of Starmer (the Prime Minister's recent speech on immigration read, at least to some, like a direct rhetorical invocation of Farage). But immigration is not even the most important electoral order of the day. The cost of living is still supreme, and if Labour can allay unrest on the issue it can recoup some lost favour. It is a shame, then, that the most recognised policy from the party's first year in post is the decision to cut winter fuel payments to pensioners. Fairly or not, the voters see a party that rallies against austerity in theory but imposes it in practice. So, Burnham's analysis is sound: Labour is getting nowhere by aping Farage on immigration and neglecting its values on the cost of living. Now, not many Brits see this Labour government as particularly different to the last Conservative one. And, more than a fifth of Labour's base is in search of a Reform, Green or Lib Dem candidate in the polling booth. But there are grounds for scepticism on the broader points. A 'strong, confident left' is one thing, but it's incorrect to assume that this will necessarily keep Farage at bay. The British left is too divided to cobble together a so-called 'left front' strong enough to resist the country's lurch Reform-wards. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe The Runcorn and Helsby by-election in May was the opening salvo of this semi-doomed strategy. Labour activists took to Lib Dem, Green and Conservative areas to squeeze as many possible tactical votes in Labour's favour. The party modelled for ten thousand votes via this tactic. It ended up getting twelve. And while Tory villages came out for Labour, Labour villages came out for Reform. The Reform candidate won. Labour organisers on the ground noted that Lib Dem voters were happy to vote Labour to stop Reform, but prospective Green voters were not. Voting for Labour in the face of Farage was still too great a leap for these 2,000 Green supporters, galvanised by an active Green campaign. And I suspect that so long as Labour's profile remains unchanged, the left will remain split along these lines and Reform will keep winning. There's another hitch behind the grand strategy of a left front. In France, strategists bank on increasing turnout from the non-voting 'silent majority' as a guarantor against the far-right. And the so-called Republican front has worked in France before. But in Britain, I would not be so confident. Because, at least according to the findings of the British Election Study, non-voters are not anti-Farage progressives waiting to be activated. Instead, relative to Starmer, non-voters favour Farage. Whereas among regular voters the Farage advantage (and this is of data immediately after the General Election) is small, among non-voters it is notable. Survey their social attitudes and you find a less-than-progressive bent. They're more redistributive than the voting median, yes. (Only slightly, I grant you.) But they're markedly more conservative than the median too. Non-voters are broadly of that crude, cliched charge: 'hang the paedos, fund the NHS'. As are most voters, really. But non-voters more so. And so to rely on them to forge an alliance to keep Farage at the gates? It seems unlikely. [See more: Andy Burnham has made his leadership pitch] Related
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
'Billions of pounds' to be spent on new Manchester to Liverpool railway line
Plans to build a new railway line between Manchester and Liverpool look set to go ahead. The government has committed to spending 'billions of pounds' on the project, according to reports. It comes after Andy Burnham urged the government to make a commitment towards the new train line when it announces its long-term spending plans next week. The Manchester Evening News and Liverpool ECHO joined forces to back the project when the mayor pitched the plans last month. READ MORE: Child arrested as investigation launched after 50 people rescued from major fire READ MORE: Moment man realised the game was up after being confronted on his doorstep According to the Financial Times, Rachel Reeves has now signed off plans to spend 'billions of pounds' on the major transport project. The newspaper reports that the plans will be funded through a £113bn investment in transport projects agreed by the Chancellor. Under the plans, express train would run every 10 minutes between Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Lime Street with services calling at Warrington as well as the airports in each city. Journey times would also be slashed to just over half an hour each way. The proposal also include building an underground station at Piccadilly and a new transport interchange at Manchester Airport. Presenting the plans to cabinet ministers and senior civil servants last month, Mr Burnham said he wants the government commit to the new railway line as part of its 10-year Infrastructure Strategy which the M.E.N. understands is expected to be published next week. Mr Burnham, and his Liverpool City Region counterpart Steve Rotheram, said the plans could help add £90bn to the economy. At the time, Mr Burnham said: "What we would ask the government to consider is not to give everything we need right now. "It's simply to say that in the 2030s - hopefully starting in the early part of the 2030s - they will commit in the infrastructure strategy to a window when this railway will be built." Ms Reeves will deliver her Spending Review, setting out the government's multi-year budget, in Parliament next Wednesday (June 11). The M.E.N. understands the 10-year Infrastructure Strategy, which will include transport plans will then be published the following day.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
CT man allegedly found with 2,000+ files of child sexual abuse materials
A man convicted multiple times of possessing child sexual abuse materials faces federal charges after parole officers and state troopers searched his home in 2024 and allegedly found more than 2,000 files involving child exploitation. Nicholas Burnham, 33, of East Hartford appeared last Friday in federal court in Hartford to answer to charges of receipt and distribution of child pornography and possession of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut. The charges, which stem from a federal criminal complaint, carry a combined minimum of 25 years in prison and a maximum of 60 years behind bars, federal officials said. The potential penalties are enhanced based on his prior history. In 2016, Burnham was convicted in state court on one count of second-degree possession of child pornography, officials said. His probation in that case was terminated in 2018 after he was convicted of first-degree possession of child pornography, according to federal officials. In 2023, Burnham began serving a term of special parole. On Dec. 17, 2024, parole officers and Connecticut State Police went to Burnham's residence, suspecting that he was using an unauthorized electronic device, officials said. During the search, three cellphones were seized. A forensic analysis of the phones later found that they allegedly contained more than 2,000 images and videos depicting child sex abuse, federal officials said. Burnham allegedly used Telegram and other encrypted messaging applications to trade child sex abuse material with others, and also allegedly accessed numerous webpages to view and download child sex abuse material, federal officials said. Burnham has been detained in state custody since the search.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Ex-East Hartford resident charged with child exploitation
CONNECTICUT (WTNH) — A former East Hartford resident was charged by a federal criminal complaint with child exploitation offenses Monday. Nicholas Burnham, 33, was charged with receipt and distribution of child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum term of 15 years in prison and a maximum term of 40 years in prison; and with possession of child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum term of 10 years in prison and a maximum term of 20 years in prison. Ledyard man charged with possession of child pornography The penalties in this matter are enhanced because of Burnham's prior state convictions. According to evidence an testimony, Burnham was convicted in state court for second-degree possession of child pornography in 2016. Then in 2018, he was convicted of first-degree possession of child pornography, which terminated his probation. In 2023 Burnham began serving a term of special parole. On Dec. 17, 2024, Burnham's parole officers and the Connecticut State Police, believing Burnham had been using an unauthorized electronic device, searched his residence and seized three cellphones. Preliminary forensic analysis of the devices allegedly revealed more than 2,000 images and videos depicting child sex abuse. Burnham allegedly used encrypted messaging applications, including Telegram, to trade child sex abuse material with others. He also allegedly accessed numerous webpages to view and download child sex abuse material. Burnham has been detained in state custody since Dec. 17, 2024. He made his initial appearance in Hartford federal court on May 30. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New Statesman
3 days ago
- Politics
- New Statesman
Andy Burnham has made his leadership pitch
Photo by. Inside Labour there might not be a vacancy but there is always a contest. The government's early unpopularity means this is even more true than usual. Over the last fortnight – via her leaked memo to Rachel Reeves – Angela Rayner's alternative vision has become clearer. MPs believe both the Deputy PM and her more Blairite rival Wes Streeting are monitoring their support within the parliamentary party. But it is Andy Burnham who is most clearly positioning for a post-Starmer world. Critical interventions by the Greater Manchester mayor are hardly unheard of. During Keir Starmer's difficult early years as Labour leader, Burnham regularly advertised himself as an alternative. His speech to the soft left group Compass on Saturday afternoon (31 May), however, was qualitatively different. It was the most wide-ranging critique of the government from any senior Labour figure since the general election and ultimately resembled a leadership manifesto (Compass's director Neal Lawson opened the day by hailing Burnham as 'by far and away the most popular person to be the next leader of the Labour Party'). In the mid-1970s and early 1980s, Tony Benn championed his 'alternative economic strategy'; Burnham hailed what he described as his 'popular left programme'. His 17-minute address – which avoided any mention of Starmer or Reeves – was filled with rebukes to the Labour leadership. 'I believe you do have to take on the right,' Burnham told a crowd assembled on the dancefloor of the Ministry of Sound in south London. 'But what's the best way to do that? Definitely not by aping their rhetoric' (an implicit reference to Starmer's recent speech on immigration). He added: 'We see from Canada and Australia that a strong, confident left, which leans into what we believe, rather than tilting the other way, can win and can win well.' Burham, who has had a historically fraught relationship with Starmer's office (once declaring: 'leave me alone'), demanded a 'move away from the factionalism that has bedevilled us on all sides of the party' and condemned the 'infantile' belief that it was 'disloyal' to 'talk to other parties, particularly on the centre or the left'. It's traditional for mayors to speak out on issues related to their administration – such as devolved funding – and to occasionally intervene on national policy (as Burnham and Sadiq Khan did when they backed a ceasefire in Gaza in 2023). But Burnham went far beyond this, calling for a 'substantially new offer for the public'. Though he praised 'good policies' such as the renationalisation of the railways, he repeatedly outflanked the government from the left, criticising 'too much timidity in our offer, too much reluctance to show the courage of our convictions'. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe He called for Labour to abandon cuts to health and disability benefits, to impose higher taxes on wealth (Reeves's aides repeatedly point out that she has already done so), to announce 'the biggest and quickest council and social housing building programme the county has ever seen', to reverse spending cuts to local authorities, to introduce free transport for teenagers in England, to replace first-past-the-post with proportional representation and to abolish the party whipping system. In its fusion of economic and constitutional radicalism there were echoes of the programme once advocated by Benn (another former cabinet minister who moved left with age). One left-wing Labour MP described Burnham's speech to me as a 'full-blooded rejection of the politics of Reeves and Starmer' and an 'extremely interesting development'. Another MP commented: 'What's he got to lose? But they [the leadership] are not going to let him come back into parliament.' The event marked the most significant gathering of the soft left – the group which often determines Labour leadership results – since the election. Though Compass has allowed members of other parties to join since 2011, this was a Labour-focused affair: other speakers included energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh (who spoke alongside Burnham), former cabinet minister Louise Haigh, former Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford and former New Labour ministers Clare Short and John Denham (who described Starmer's administration to me as 'the most intellectually incurious Labour government that has ever been elected'). Fahnbulleh, a key ally of Ed Miliband, used her own address to call for Labour to transform the welfare state into 'a well-being state', which offers 'guaranteed access for all who need it' to 'social care, to education, to childcare – a proper safety net to catch people when they fall on hard times'. A distinctive soft left critique recurred through the course of the day: Starmer's government, it was said, has not done enough to amplify policies such as the employment rights bill, rail public ownership and GB Energy and has made avoidable errors such as the winter fuel payment cuts and overly rigid fiscal rules. Fahnbulleh urged activists to 'tell the story of the wins that a progressive government is making' and to 'hold us to account when we get things wrong'. There were almost no references from speakers to Starmer – treated by some as a bystander in his own government – with ire focused on Reeves and the wider leadership. Lawson denounced the old right group Labour First, which I profiled here, as 'a party within a party' that 'now runs Labour in its rather dull, sectarian interest'. Who will emerge as the soft left's candidate of choice? Among Labour members, as polling by Survation shows, Miliband and Rayner are the most popular cabinet ministers (with approval ratings of +65 and +46 respectively). But Burnham's speech was an attempt to position himself as the soft left's standard bearer – a claim to Labour's moral leadership. 'If the next election is going to be a binary choice between two worldviews and the opposition is going to be the divisive populist right then we must be the unifying popular left,' Burnham declared. He did not say whether he hopes to lead this movement – but he didn't need to. [See also: The British left is coming for the Government] Related
