Jon Trickett MP: The existence of the Labour Party is in jeopardy if Burnham doesn’t deliver

Jon Trickett is one of the Labour left’s longest standing MPs. First elected in a by-election in 1996, he’s served 30 years in the House of Commons.

That means he’s seen six Labour leaders in his time. What does he make of the latest one?

“I think Andy Burnham is a different kind of prime minister to Starmer”, Trickett told LFF in an interview at the Labour Party’s conference in Liverpool. “He’s a likeable guy. People do like him. They find him interesting. And he’s making lots of different noises, changing direction.”

However, Trickett is clear that vibes aren’t enough, and that he wants to see Burnham take action on the big issues facing the country and his constituents. He said: “We want some action. And so the next thing is for Andy to step up with his new government to begin to deliver the change which people are desperate for.”

For Trickett, that change has to mean tackling the cost of living crisis and addressing economic inequality in the UK.

He told LFF: “I think the main thing for the kind of people I represent is what they call the cost of living crisis. What it really means is bosses paying low wages and also putting up prices so there’s a crisis at home. Too often in our area people work hard, play by the rules but still live in poverty even though they’re working sometimes more than 40 hours a week. And that is very very difficult.

“And at the same time, they look around see all these billionaires seem to be springing up everywhere like mushrooms in a dark shed somewhere. And it brings a sense of unfairness and injustice and anger.”

He went on to say: “It brings a sense of unfairness and injustice and anger. And we do have to get a grip on the larger structures of how the economy works.”

Trickett said that some of the policies Burnham has introduced in the early days of his premiership – such as lowering the cap on bus fares – have gone some way to deliver this. But, he also argued that the government has to go much further, and warned that the existence of the Labour Party is in jeopardy if he doesn’t deliver transformative change.

He told LFF: “Andy said at the Makerfield by-election, he said it was existential. Well, that’s a fancy word. What it means is the existence of the Labour Party is in jeopardy if we don’t get it right.

“So, he’s made some very, very important correct noises. We’ve now got to see some action”.

What’s the scale of the transformation Burnham needs to deliver? For Trickett, it isn’t small, and includes things like public ownership of public services and increased taxation on the wealthy.

He told LFF: “When you ask people for example about public ownership or about a wealth tax, they’re massively popular. Over 80 per cent of people want to see electricity, gas, water, the buses all back in public ownership. These are massively popular ideas.”

He continued: “When think about water, for example, the sewage down in the rivers, streams and in the sea, leaks all over the place, no new reservoirs and we’re saying we’re into a climate crisis and droughts each year, massive profits and chief executives earning a fortune. All of that is completely unacceptable. That [public ownership] is something we should be doing now.

Trickett then added that it is “self-evident we need to move on a wealth tax”, before saying: “That is a massively popular idea when you poll people in the country. I was looking at a poll the other day. It’s staggering how many people are in favour of it.

“So my impression is – and it’s more than an impression because I encounter people every day in my area – people want change.”

Alongside making the case for a more radical economic programme, Trickett also cautioned Burnham that the way to fend off the threat posed by Reform is not by “pursuing the politics of Reform”.

He told LFF: “If you have a Labour government pursuing the politics of Reform in order to try to destroy them, all you’re doing is legitimising Reform”.

He went on to imply that Keir Starmer’s time in Number 10 engaged in this kind of politics, and called for Burnham to break with it.

Trickett said: “The first thing and most important thing is we step back from that beause what it’s done is it’s created this massive vacuum with millions of people feelign Labour would normally be their natural party, who felt that they couldn’t vote for them.

“And then people look around and say well what are the other options? And some people will go to REform because they think – well – they’re the ones whoa re offering a break with the status quo. All of that was a mistake.

“So I’m looking to this government to rebuild the coalition which can put Labour into office on a progressive bold programme of reform. Now Andy’s words are very good on all this. He’s said he wants to be bold and wants to be radical. But let’s hope it’s not radical in the direction which Starmer was taking us, which was mistaken.”

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward

Image credit: UK Parliament – Creative Commons