The Anonymous Widower

Andy Burnham Promised 10,000 Council Houses. Guess The Tally So Far

The title of this post, is the same as that, of this article in The Times.

This is the sub-heading.

Greater Manchester is a success story but that has little to do with the mayor, still less the economic model he is touting for the country

These are the first two paragraphs.

I don’t like being mean to Andy Burnham. With his soft, doe-eyed features, it feels rather like punching a lamb. But it’s quite an achievement when “We’ve got to get beyond this thing of being in hock to the bond markets” isn’t actually the stupidest thing a politician has said in any given week.

The other day Burnham kicked off his not-quite-a-leadership bid by urging Labour to embrace “Manchesterism”. This he defined as “business-friendly socialism”, in which the state “rolled back the 1980s” by seizing control of “the basics of life”: housing, energy, water, rail. This included borrowing £40 billion for new council housing.

This paragraph from Robert Colville gives the current progress on housing in Manchester.

Burnham did announce, in May 2024, that he was going to build 10,000 council houses by 2028. But over the following year the region started construction on just ten. No, that’s not a typo.

That is not a good start!

June 25, 2026 - Posted by | World | , , , , , ,

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