Angela Rayner has thrown her weight behind Andy Burnham’s plan to “rewire England”, arguing that the next prime minister must go further in devolving power to communities – and warning that Labour “too often left the impression” of “defending the status quo rather than challenging it” under Sir Keir Starmer.
Speaking at a New Economics Foundation event on Wednesday, the former deputy prime minister said it was a “time for boldness”, adding that Labour would not defeat Nigel Farage’s Reform UK “with caution”. Her endorsement comes as Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, is widely expected to become prime minister later this month after Starmer’s resignation last week.
“Angela Rayner backs Andy Burnham's devolution plan, saying Labour must be bolder to beat Reform UK.”
Burnham has already promised the biggest “rebalancing of power our country has ever seen”, including a “No 10 North” – a new Downing Street team based in Manchester – an idea backed by senior minister Darren Jones. In his leadership launch speech on Monday, Burnham said Whitehall had “blocked” progress in his region and vowed to “drive good growth in every postcode”.
Rayner, who oversaw devolution in government, said there needed to be “much deeper cultural changes” in central government. “Whitehall empires hoard their own power,” she said, citing “institutional resistance to fiscal devolution” throughout her time in office. She pointed to the power given to regional mayors to charge a tourist tax as a step forward, but argued the “devolution revolution” would only reach full potential “if central government changes too, with No 10 driving it as a core mission”.
Yet Starmer’s own devolution record has drawn sharp criticism. Under his premiership, local government reorganisation (LGR) and the introduction of more metro mayors led to what critics describe as farcical outcomes. From 2028, for instance, the largest city-region in Europe will be the combined “metro area” of Norfolk and Suffolk – a single mayoral authority spanning around 9,200 square kilometres (six times larger than Greater London) and roughly the size of Cyprus. Another proposal would see a single mayor cover the whole of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, despite centuries of rivalry between cities like Portsmouth and Southampton – neighbours who call each other “scum” and “skates”.
With Burnham set to inherit both the machinery of government and the legacy of Starmer’s constitutional changes, the question now is whether he can succeed where his predecessor stumbled. “We must rewire England by devolving power and money to the country as a whole,” Rayner said. But as she acknowledged, “the work has started” – it remains to be seen whether the new boss can break the old habits.