By Ruth Kettle-Frisby.
Andy Burnham has spoken movingly and effectively for statutory accountability on many occasions, notably in favour of Hillsborough and environmental justice.
However, he also disappointingly denied the people of Greater Manchester clean air via an Ultra Low Emission Zone, which would have received a politicised backlash from the right, but could have been a highly effective use of his Mayoral powers, saving lives and improving children’s health.
As a longstanding Labour politician on the periphery of leadership, Burnham has cultivated a largely untested, somewhat romanticised veneer that’s been loosely interpreted as a force for socialism by left-of-centre-leaning people. However one thing that Andy Burnham hasn’t demonstrated is a commitment to socialism.
There are good reasons to suspect that the framing of Burnham’s by-election campaign is but a temporary caricature of socialism to stave off the threat of the real thing; the real change that so many of us desperately hope for. As such, ethical/eco-socialist support for Burnham’s campaign in the Makerfield by-election can be interpreted as genuine naivety and failure to grasp the substance of his political positioning at best, and a bad faith bid to maintain the establishment while saving face at worst.
Burnham currently occupies the much-loved, well-trodden British trope of wounded underdog, having wrongly been snubbed under Keir Starmer’s leadership in the Gorton and Denton by-election. But looking at the bigger picture, we know that the socialist space occupied by the fresh, bold and ever-growing force that is the Green Party was created by Labour’s suicidal shift to the right: from its shameful complicity with the occupation and genocide in Gaza; to its wrong-headed, misdirected attempt to pander to under-served British people who have swallowed the pernicious lie that the cost of living crisis is a direct result of forced migration.
It is existentially critical, therefore, that eco-socialist voters stay true to our core values for truth, social justice and a more equitable society for all, because let’s face it, the power game that is the British neoliberal establishment is on its last legs. Voters are tired of aimlessly ping ponging from red to blue and back again, while the super rich get richer off the back of traditionally working and even middle class people.
Britain is going through a serious housing crisis; our air and our water are hideously polluted; health and disability inequality is rife; racism is on the rise; and too many people are surviving instead of leading a basic quality of life. The status quo is reaching breaking point, and what’s needed is a competent and committed alternative to the neoliberal obsession with economic growth at the cost of too many children’s access to their basic needs and human rights including food, warmth, shelter and clean air.
This is not personal, but we must recognise that these are desperate times. As much as we can wish Andy Burnham well and recognise he’s a better option than most in his party, it is absolutely essential that the Independent and Green Party candidates build and cement their identities as viable alternatives to the neoliberal establishment itself, and keep our eyes on the prize of social justice in tangible terms, including: a wealth tax; wealth redistribution; welfare reform; renationalisation of water, energy and rail; social housing; land value tax; meaningful investment in public services and peace.
Keir Starmer rose to power on socialist-esque lies; now Wes Streeting – having handed our health data to Palantir before abandoning his post as Health Secretary – is espousing more left-leaning concepts and policies. While Streeting’s current claims ring far hollower than Andy Burnham’s current campaign – given the latter’s political proximity to his fellow rightly admired Labour politicians such as Sadiq Khan and Clive Lewis – we can and should consistently offer people a more politically and economically ambitious option still.
For all his virtues, Andy Burnham is not going to deliver the ethical and eco-socialist solutions we need to tackle the climate crisis, which is manifesting itself as a health crisis with the poorest and most marginalised communities forced to survive at its sharpest end, their agency severely compromised for the sake of profits that are harming people and planet alike.
Socialists must use our political agency for real, transformative change, in resistance to the smoke and mirrors represented by Labour. If we are honest about the role of capitalism in the climate/housing/cost of living crisis and want grassroots change, we must set our sights on the broader goal of breaking free from systemic oppression in favour of what could be the biggest and most viable shot at hope in our lifetimes.
Ruth Kettle-Frisby, 11 June 2026.
Quaker Socialist Society 