In The Room | Andy Burnham wants to be Britain’s least powerful PM

WorldPolitics
1 Jul 2026 • 2:32 AM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

In The Room | Andy Burnham wants to be Britain’s least powerful PM

Devolution – or devo-maxxing – was the order of the day in Andy Burnham’s most significant speech yet on how he would govern.

But devolution is a tune plenty of leaders have played before. Tony Blair turbo-charged it after 1997, George Osborne promised a Northern Powerhouse, and Boris Johnson made plenty of noise about levelling up. Still, Britain remains top-heavy, with power and wealth concentrated in London. The UK also sends a far greater share of tax revenue to central government than almost all other major economies.

So is now the right time to devo-maxx? And is Burnham the right man to do it?

New episodes of In The Room drop every week. Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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