Paul Huxley argues that the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham should take the nation in a new direction
New leader, new vibes.
Few would have thought that two years after Labour’s landslide General Election win, Sir Keir Starmer would already be gone and that there would be a new Prime Minister in his place.
Andy Burnham is clearly a more charismatic figure than his predecessor. His early announcements are positioning him as a man of the people – on the side of people who use buses, who go out to the pub or who don’t think violent criminals should be released early.
The honeymoon period is unlikely to last long, though. How much difference will these announcements make? How will they be funded? The details aren’t there yet. There are political landmines in fundamental areas like the economy and defence that Burnham will have to navigate with great care.
It is good that people are feeling more positive about some of the directions being taken.
But our nation’s problems go much deeper than bus fares. And there are some surprisingly simple and low-cost changes that Burnham could make to set the nation on a prosperous path.
Life
One of Burnham’s Labour MPs, Lauren Edwards, has decided to resurrect the deadly assisted suicide bill, set for its second reading on 11 September. Despite the clear safeguarding flaws highlighted in Kim Leadbeater’s previous bill, there is a clear push from pro-suicide MPs to get the bill through at any cost – including invoking the Parliament Act to stop the House of Lords from trying to fix its obvious shortcomings.
This bill is simply not needed. It is a blow-up or a scandal waiting to happen, with some Labour MPs rightly understanding that vulnerable people will be pushed towards taking their own lives.
Although these moral issues are left as free votes for MPs to follow their own consciences, many Labour MPs previously seemed to feel the pressure to make assisted suicide happen, knowing Starmer’s support for it.
Burnham has also supported assisted suicide but does not appear to be nearly so ideological about it. He said that “you can’t have this law change with an underfunded hospice movement”. That would mean that before any assisted suicide law could come in, the Government would need to find sustainable funding for palliative care – a very welcome development but one that costs money and might involve other less popular sacrifices.
Assisted suicide is not only a terrible idea but is politically insane. If Burnham wants to lead the country well and perhaps win the next General Election, upholding life by making it clear that he is against this bill would be an excellent start.
Conversion practices
In the dying moments of Starmer’s time as PM, a draft ban on ‘conversion practices’ was put forward.
Like assisted suicide, this idea is an unworkable and unnecessary mess and a distraction from the real challenges facing the nation. But it is the kind of mess Burnham may well support, having tried to make Manchester a ‘conversion therapy’ free zone.
The draft bill is really a charter for people to make accusations against Christians, ‘gender criticals’ and anyone else who disagrees with any aspect of LGBTQIA+ ideology. On paper, it only bans activities that are seriously harmful – i.e. things that no one is doing anyway. But it has a neat exemption for healthcare settings, allowing actually-harmful puberty blockers to be given out without the same level of accountability.
Ten years ago, only a handful of Christian organisations like us and Core Issues Trust were publicly critical of this kind of ban. But lately, many more people have realised that they target a problem that simply doesn’t exist – and are in fact a tool for making accusations and silencing debate.
This just happened at the Church of England’s General Synod. LGBTQIA+ fanatics can claim that people are promoting conversion practices and get a display shut down under the pretext of safeguarding. No proof needed, just an accusation and debate can be silenced.
If Burnham pushes this ban forward, he will lose credibility and be even more distracted from what matters.
Islam
Andy Burnham must tackle the growing influence of Islam in our society and politics.
He has shown weakness in addressing grooming gangs in the past. In those cases, fear of ‘racism’ accusations meant that grooming gangs were not tackled or exposed for decades. The Islamic nature of much of this abuse has only recently become possible to talk about openly within politics.
Islam poses unique challenges to the UK. Siloed communities have not only been able to enforce de facto blasphemy laws but are also politically organising and changing the nature of UK politics.
Political courage may be needed to address this, but a lot can be done with no great cost to the Treasury. If we are to have equality laws and policies, they must mean people are treated equally, not as members of privileged or unprivileged groups. It doesn’t take a lot to put an end to the two-tier police training that leads to these injustices.
Ending the grip of cultural Marxism on our institutions would fit perfectly with his ‘man of the people’ vibe. Stop talking about intersectionality and treat people according to their actions, not their group identities.
Gender ideology
That applies to transgenderism too.
People with transgender identities are given special privileges in the UK. They are the only people who are allowed to define themselves as something they are not and expect everyone else to treat them as if the lie is true.
Men, however they identify, shouldn’t have access to women’s safe spaces. To take part in their sports. To get people into trouble for accurately gendering them.
The law is a mess on this front. Recent legal judgments like For Women Scotland and the Darlington Nurses have been a firm step in the right direction, upholding rights that were there all along. But a lot could be solved by ending the special treatment afforded to people with false understandings of themselves.
There is no need to treat anyone badly here. In fact, treating people in accordance with what they are is itself an act of love.
Returning to created reality in our laws and policies would simplify the law greatly and stop NHS trusts paying ludicrous amounts of money attempting to make sure men could use women’s changing rooms.
More than vibes
I hope and pray that Britain would prosper under our new Prime Minister. Like other recent Prime Ministers, he surely intends to lead well and to steer the United Kingdom towards prosperity.
To do so, he needs to listen to the wisest, kindest leader of all: Jesus Christ.
However capable Burnham and those around him are, vibes won’t cut it. We need deep renewal.
That doesn’t just go for him, though.
Even as Christians, we need to take Jesus Christ and his claims much more seriously than we often do.
He has much to say about the issues of our day. Biblical law is full of wisdom for us, if we would read it with faith and seriousness.
It won’t serve us or our nation well for us to praise or lambast politicians based solely on our instincts. We can’t afford to base our opinions on whether we like or hate the person who said it.
Cultural renewal won’t happen without Christians living faithfully and courageously.
It’s not just Andy Burnham who has some work to do.