The Huddle: How can Andy Burnham deliver the change that Labour promised in 2024?

With Keir Starmer standing down, Holyrood asked: What would your advice be to the new prime minister to deliver the change that was promised in 2024?

Katherine Crawford, chief executive, Age Scotland 
People are fed up and too many are struggling. Our resilience has been stretched to breaking point and that frustration and anger is now boiling over to an extent that I haven’t seen in my lifetime. 

Too often and for too long it seems that politicians have responded to the loudest or flashiest voices, and now those quieter voices are clamouring to be heard. Older people are amongst those.

The vast majority don’t think politicians care enough about issues affecting older people and don’t feel valued by society. Dismiss such a large voter base at your political peril.
Please take a step back, check any political hubris and listen. Hear directly from people not in your immediate orbit and seek support from the charity sector who know how to draw out the unsaid.
If you want to change things you have to bring people with you.  

Andrew Connon, president of NFU Scotland 
Scottish farmers and crofters produce high-quality food, support rural communities, drive the nation’s economic growth, enhance biodiversity, and restore nature – all of which must be recognised. 

Yet the constant threat from imports, which can be produced to lower standards than those of British farmers, poses a real threat to domestic food production, offshoring our emissions and increasing our reliance on imported food. 

At a time of global instability, the ability and need to protect domestic food production have never been greater. The new prime minister must understand the threats to our industry, safeguard farming and its core standards of food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection in any future trade negotiations. 

It is imperative that border security is tightened whilst fiscal regulation must allow agriculture to flourish for the generations of farmers to come.

John Dickie, director, Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland
To deliver the change promised the new PM needs to focus on the things that matter most to voters. With four in every five concerned about the number of children living in poverty, child poverty is a good place to start. 

Voters see that the economy still isn’t working for them, and that low-paid, insecure jobs combine with high food, energy and housing costs to undermine their best efforts. No wonder they too often feel ignored and overlooked. To rebuild trust in politics the new PM must act fast. He must build upon his predecessor’s abolition of the two-child limit. That action lifted 350,000 children out of poverty, but with four million in poverty it needs to be the first step of a genuinely UK-wide strategy. 

To ensure all our children can thrive the new PM must use Westminster policy tools – like child benefit – to back up devolved interventions.

Andy Williams, director, ADS Scotland
Here in Scotland, there is a real opportunity to unlock growth and make good on the promises outlined by the Labour Party in 2024, but that will require creating the right conditions for businesses to invest and compete on the global stage.

As the trade association representing Scotland’s aerospace, defence, security and space industries, we regularly hear from companies that are ready to grow, create highly skilled, well-paid jobs and contribute even more to the Scottish economy. What they need is long-term policy certainty, a supportive investment environment and greater recognition of the value these sectors bring to communities across the country.

Our advice to the next prime minister is simple: work closely with industry to unlock investment, accelerate delivery of key strategies, including the Defence Investment Plan and Scotland’s Defence Growth Deal, and back policies that enable businesses to invest with confidence. We have worked constructively with the Scottish Government on a range of topics and know that partnership between government and industry is essential.

Angela Madden, chair of the WASPI Campaign
The next Labour prime minister has an opportunity to show that change means more than new slogans. Trust in politics is built by keeping promises, respecting independent institutions and listening when people have been let down. 

On WASPI, too many Labour MPs, including Keir Starmer, stood with us in opposition only to walk away in government. That has damaged confidence not just among 1950s-born women, but in politics itself. The parliamentary ombudsman found maladministration and recommended compensation, yet ministers chose to reject those findings. 

With a fresh judicial review expected to be heard this autumn, the government may soon be required to look at this decision again. A new Labour leader should not wait for the courts to force their hand. 

Delivering change means admitting when government gets things wrong, treating people fairly and restoring faith that independent watchdogs matter. Keeping faith with WASPI women would be a powerful place to start.

Mariana Mazzucato, professor of economics, University College London
My advice to the next PM: set moonshot goals backed by real state capacity to deliver and use the full firepower across a suite of state levers – from public procurement to public finance – to achieve them. 

The last government’s missions on clean energy, health and opportunities for young people all hit the same wall by setting bold ambitions with no cross-departmental engine to make them happen. To deliver on bold outcomes like the net zero transition or fixing the cost-of-living crisis, all the state’s levers need to pull in the same direction, coordinated around shared goals rather than run in departmental siloes. 

And it’s not just a question about nationalisation versus privatisation of key sectors, but about building the state capacity to make either model work. 2024 proved Labour can set a vision for the future – the next PM will be tested on their ability to deliver transformative change.

Matthew Cole, chair, Fuel Poverty Panel Scotland
Around 29 per cent of households in Scotland are living in fuel poverty. This figure was calculated before the energy price shock driven by conflict in the Middle East, and we know that as prices rise so will the number of people in fuel poverty. 

Whilst having a good quality home that uses energy efficiently is important in tackling fuel poverty, we also advocate for the UK Government to examine a targeted, flexible energy discount scheme. Some would call this a social tariff, and it would support those on a low income or with greater energy needs than the average and would help address some of the financial drivers of fuel poverty.  

The clean energy transition mustn’t leave people behind and must be fair and inclusive. At the same time, households using electricity for heating currently pay significantly more for the same energy use than those on gas, while users of unregulated fuels also face higher costs and unpredictable prices. This challenge is particularly acute in the north of Scotland and island communities.

Sarah Davidson, chief executive, Carnegie UK 
Our next prime minister should make improving people’s lives the central test of government success. This would mean changing how the UK Government works and setting clear goals for people’s wellbeing and using these outcomes to drive priorities and trade-offs across Whitehall. The new PM must hold Cabinet ministers to account for their contribution to long-term aims, not the short-term fixes. 

This means looking at people’s lives in the round and using that data to power the government decision-making machine. Learning from the failure of missions, including by gearing our public finance systems to support big goals. Sharing power with the people by using models like citizens’ assemblies to create a bridgehead on issues that divide the UK.  

There is no single fix for effective government. But a relentless focus on improving people’s lives, backed by a state that is organised to deliver it, offers the clearest path to a brighter future. 

Susan Smith, director, For Women Scotland
With Andy Burnham looking set to take the Labour crown unchallenged, we can think of no better advice than he should apply his Makerfield Test to questions around women’s rights and the protection of children. In the real world, precious few people believe sex is mutable, and most wish to safeguard children from the harmful effects of experimental drugs.

Nevertheless, many in his party are set to pitch Labour into a row over an appallingly badly drafted bill on Conversion Therapy which goes far beyond (already illegal) abuses and seeks to interfere with families and thwart therapeutic best practice.

Additionally, he should be firm that the EHRC Code of Practice is lawful and will be implemented across the public sector without delay, ensure that the dangerous puberty blocker trial is stopped, and refuse to back any attempt to prevent therapists offering holistic care to gender-confused children.

There are enough issues to deal with – from the NHS to the cost of living. Labour should eschew elite, luxury beliefs.