Andy Burnham has said that Brexit led to “a decade of low growth and stalled regeneration”. He made the remarks during his first appearance before MPs as Prime Minister.
Burnham told MPs that political power was centralised. Economic power was privatised and industry declined. The PM said Tory austerity has hollowed out councils and removed their ability to act. In his view, these choices weakened communities and reduced long term resilience.
He said Brexit then compounded the damage. Independent economic studies support that claim. Research from the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that Brexit reduced UK GDP by six to eight percent compared with where it would have been without leaving the EU . Other analyses show similar results.
Political power was centralised, economic power privatised, the country deindustrialised. Austerity followed, hollowing out councils and depriving them of the agency to act to reverse any of this. And then Brexit compounded the damage, ushering in a decade of low growth and stalled regeneration. Change begins with honesty and I’m not hearing much of it this afternoon. Unless we are blunt about what went wrong, we won’t turn things around. Far from taking back control, the combination of these policies took control out of the hands of communities up and down Britain’
Andy Burnham
Burnham said that honesty about these trends is essential. He argued that Britain cannot fix its economic problems without acknowledging their causes. He said the combination of centralisation, privatisation, austerity and Brexit took control out of the hands of communities across the country.
Public opinion has shifted sharply since the Brexit referendum. Polling now shows that support for Brexit has fallen to its lowest level since the referendum. YouGov surveys indicate that support for Brexit is around thirty percent. Younger voters are generally more pro‑European and support for rejoining the EU has risen in multiple polls, reflecting frustration with economic performance and trade barriers.
Burnham has previously said he would like the UK to rejoin the EU in his lifetime. He has also pledged to follow Labour’s manifesto commitment not to rejoin the bloc or the single market at this stage.