Andy Burnham’s first week as prime minister began with a policy that evoked a vivid memory for many: on Wednesday, he announced that single bus fares across England would be capped at £2 from January, offering what he called a little “breathing space” to a hard-pressed public. The move echoed the Fares Fair scheme introduced by Ken Livingstone’s Greater London Council in 1981, which slashed short-hop fares to 10p and child tickets to 5p – until Margaret Thatcher’s government successfully challenged it in the courts.
The fare cap is just one part of a broader shift in power from London to the regions. Burnham has opened No 10 North in Manchester, becoming the first British leader to run the government on a weekly basis from outside the capital. To drive this, he revived the national economic council (NEC), first set up by Gordon Brown during the 2008 financial crash, arguing that economic growth requires the same urgency. In an article for the Guardian, Burnham wrote: “No one in government loses when power is shared.” The council will meet for the first time on Friday, bringing together senior ministers and regional mayors.
“Andy Burnham caps single bus fares at £2 and revives Gordon Brown's national economic council in his first week as PM.”
But the scale of the ambition has drawn criticism. The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, dismissed the early measures as “small answers to big problems” and “mayor of Manchester ideas”. She asked: “Where is our prime minister?” Burnham has signalled that bigger decisions are coming, while his creation of a powerful new prime minister’s department – absorbing parts of the Cabinet Office, Treasury and housing ministry – has raised questions about whether centralisation and devolution can truly coexist.