Burnham Issues: Your response to the new PM and cabinet

Andy Burnham has given me and my family hope after a long time of feeling ignored. We have all rejoined the Labour Party again, and look forward to attending meetings and being part of the Labour movement as we used to be before. I realise it won’t happen overnight but the fact Andy is so positive and inspiring really helps. 

I wish him and his team all the very best, I will offer support in any way I can. I believe we all need to stand united as a party and also show support to our new Prime Minister.  

Kind regards 

Carol Murphy

******

Andy Burnham is hope for the middle-aged.

When Andy Burnham danced to Faith by New Order at the Leadership announcement, the music hit me full on and brought back a wave of memories and probably did so for everyone else over 50. 

The choice of music was spot on – a Manchester band from his youth, just like we’ve come to expect. However if you dig a bit deeper the year of release was particularly poignant politically. 

The year was 1987 when many of us in the party were probably forming our political opinions – no doubt influenced a great deal by events of that year. The main one being the Conservatives led by Margaret Thatcher won a third term in the General Election that year. 

The thought of ever having a Labour government seemed so far away and the Labour values of decency, fairness and altruism that many of us grew up with were being replaced with a desire for less state control, more individualism and an ‘I’m alright Jack’ attitude. We were told by the Conservatives to literally get on our bikes and just get on with it. 

For me it all felt so cruel and in direct opposition to what I had been brought up to believe. 

In 1987 three tragedies also defined the failures of light touch regulation. The Herald of Free Enterprise ferry capsized soon after leaving Zeebrugge in Belgium; Michael Ryan killed 16 people and injured 15 in Hungerford, Berkshire before taking his own life; and a fire at King’s Cross Underground station killed 31 people and injured over 100, all because of another careless act of someone discarding a cigarette on a wooden escalator. 

So that’s why Andy Burnham is the  middle-aged person’s Prime Minister. We remember how bad it was in the 1980s, a generation who saw friends and family members destroyed by Thatcherism. 

It didn’t just tread heavily on hopes and dreams, it removed them entirely replacing them  with a pyramid scheme of faux aspiration.

Andy Burnham becoming prime minister gives the  middle-aged across the country hope that we too still have something to contribute. I know the nostalgic music and wallaby shoes may be irritating but it’s incredibly important because that music and nostalgia reminds us of a time that (as dreadful as it was) is a flash point that guided many people to reject Thatcherism and towards the Labour Party winning 10 years later. 

Most importantly the middle-aged demographic are caring for increasingly frail and dependent older parents. Andy Burnham talking about his own personal challenges caring for his father with dementia hits home. Reform of social care and creation of a National Care Service can’t come quick enough for the over 50s

So Andy Burnham dancing to a New Order song from 1987 matters. It filled our hearts with hope and joy and we’re a generation he needs to keep winning over over especially as we are more likely to vote in elections too 

Cllr Anna Lynch
Deputy Leader
Hackney Labour Group

*****

John Healey as Chancellor – a Blinder.

Yvette as Health – good one, she can be trusted.

Ed as Foreign Secretary –not sure. 

Mahmood – probably a clever move, although I don’t like her politics.

Lucy Powell as Education – why remove Bridget?

Wes as Defence –are we safe in his hands? This is a mighty important role.

Raynor – brilliant

Lisa Nandy – great

Miatta – Great

David Lammy –a great loss. 

Woman Chief Whip – great

Plenty of Women. Not enough Black faces.

Like that lots of really good people are back in their old jobs. Overall, very positive. 

Myra Farnworth 

Ideas for Andy

Hello Labourlist,

Instead of cancelling the 5% VAT from 1 October, which will cost the government (saving households ~£45 annually) he should have broken the artificial link between electricity and gas prices, which would not cost the government.

The benefit to households would be far greater, and be paid for by reducing the excess profits made by the suppliers.

In the past, a % windfall tax raised money for the government but didn’t benefit the electricity bills of householders.

David Murray

*****

One of the disturbing early signs of the Andy Burnham era is the downgrade regarding the climate and biodiversity crisis.

An early indication was the move towards drilling in the North Sea. 

Meanwhile, the new administration seems to be bowing to the demands of the arms lobby on military spending. Both moves smack of crass populism.

The real crisis is climate and biodiversity breakdown. The intense heat of recent summers. The threats to food security, with harvests likely to fail one in every three years if warming goes 1.5 degrees above pre industrialisation levels (every other year, if it goes above two).

The simple absorption of resources in dealing with the crisis – firefighting, flooding, health costs. It has been reported that the NHS has been under as much pressure due to heat this summer as in mid-winter. More than 2,000 people have died.

On a more positive note, economic prosperity lies in green growth. Investment in this sector will profit the country and make it more secure.

On an electoral note, dumping the climate and biodiversity agenda opens up a huge territory for the Greens and Liberal Democrats to exploit. Is this what Burnham wants? 

Surely, his 10 year plan, when it arrives, has to have climate and biodiversity criteria front and centre – anything else won’t be worth the paper it is written on.

Paul Donovan

*****

Dear Labour List,

As a lifelong supporter of Labour and wanting to wish the new labour lineup every success, I would like to offer two thoughts that might change the narrative we are so constrained by.

1. very simple but I am sure you all have thought about it – STOP eliding TAX with BURDEN as if they inevitably go together. If, instead, the narrative starts to become TAX CONTRIBUTION then people may feel they could benefit from any tax changes. You would, of course , have to challenge every political broadcasting commentator as they inevitably say TAX BURDEN when referring to taxation due to the power of ‘group think’.
2. re Housing — Homes should be for living in not an investment vehicle. One possible way of encouraging this is to adopt the French model for buying and selling property. 

Namely, the tax contribution is removed from the buyer, i.e. no stamp duty, thus making houses cheaper to buy. And the tax contribution is collected from the seller as capital gains the amount of which, AND HERE IS THE KICKER, decreases the longer you live in the property and becomes zero after 20 years. This not only gives a tax incentive for the property to remain in occupation it also keeps the property market a lot more stable and affordable.

Yours

Janie Grote

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This summer, we’re giving Labour supporters and political history enthusiasts the chance to win some truly special prizes while supporting independent Labour journalism.

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Burnham needs to lead by headlining elimination

The strategy acknowledges that the “right of women and girls to live free from abuse is [a] fundamental non-negotiable right”(p78). Freedom from violence requires an end to domestic violence, sexual abuse, rape, sexual harassment (the most prevalent form), stalking, sexual exploitation, online abuse and so very much more. Most of us wish for our families, our children, our colleagues never to know the harms of violence. Some of us wish the same for people we may never meet.  No matter; it is a human right for women and girls to be free of violence and an obligation on the state to eliminate it. Because of its disproportionate impact on women it is seen in international law as a form of discrimination which the state is obligated to eliminate.

In doing so, public and private lives will be the better for it – political life, economic, cultural and educational engagement will benefit. 

READ MORE: WATCH: Andy Burnham becomes Prime Minister (NEW LabourList Podcast)

This is why halving VAWG was the wrong target. Which half of the “almost 200” rapes recorded by the police each day should continue and which 75 of the 150 women killed annually in England and Wales should lose their lives? Which half of those who kill in the name of honour should we not prosecute? Whichever way you slice it, half cannot be the leading metric.

Elimination is the framing the new PM should adopt.

He has already shown that he embraces high ambition by committing to ending rough sleeping before he even walked into Number 10. Impressive.

He should take the same approach to VAWG by headlining immediately and repeatedly thereafter that eliminating VAWG is his ambition; halving it can only ever be a staging point and never the core ambition. 

Burham must prioritise sexual violence and exploitation

A serious approach to elimination means properly tackling sexual abuse and exploitation, poor cousins in the broader panoply of work against violence against women and girls. It does not diminish the importance of work on domestic violence to acknowledge that sexual abuse has enjoyed less policy attention or resources. The UK (rightly) funds an International Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative yet in this country rape crisis centres are starved of funding and have been closing. Sex-for-rent continues and sexually violent pornography is in everyone’s pocket via their mobile phone.

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Some groups of women are structurally marginalised, with their lives horribly undervalued. Their experiences of violence are under-recognised and opportunities to rebuild their lives are constrained. Relevant data is limited but they suggest higher prevalence rates for some: eg reports of sexual assault are almost double for disabled women compared to other women, 5.7% vs 3%.

Immigrant women who have been subject to the ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ rule have had to choose between denial of public support – and all the privations that may bring – or remaining with abusive partners. A scheme has been introduced to mitigate this in cases of domestic abuse but its usefulness can only be assessed through greater transparency about take-up.  The UK government joined a European Convention on violence against women, yet opted out of Article 59, which offers independent residency rights to migrant women victims of domestic violence. The provision means they do not have to be fearful of losing their status, and their children, if they opt to leave abusive partners.  

Starmer did not address these issues – will Burnham? 

Centring this work at the heart of government

The new Prime Minister should signal at the very beginning of his premiership the centrality of elimination of VAWG in his agenda. But will he bring the boldness that is urgent?

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Burnham himself should chair a cross-ministerial group on VAWG to embed the understanding of the legal obligation to end violence against women, requiring all departments to be proactive on this issue. He needs to ensure meaningful sanctions for corporations (such as punitive fines rising by each hour of non-compliance on obligations around image-based pornography) as well as individuals who abuse; support for frontline services across forms of violence including sexual violence; and continuity in domestic and international work. He should expect to answer to women and girls across the world if the UK contributes directly or indirectly to increased armed conflict, which always provides the context for increased VAW.

While these actions are nowhere near a complete map of what needs to be done, they would be a strong signal from the leadership of this country that women’s lives and freedom matter.

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From social clubs to relationships, volunteering to employment, we invest our time, faith and loyalty in things that suit us at the time but then move on as our circumstances change. Things that once held meaning are abandoned. We stop caring. We stop engaging. Emotional investment is withdrawn. 

Except when it comes to football.

Belonging matters

For decades I dedicated my Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays to football. I could have made other plans but for half my lifetime I opted in, first as a player then as a coach. I have been a lifelong Arsenal fan through the good, the bad and the ugly. My toddler son has already been to a few Everton games with my mum and me, and the passing of the baton for me to stand on the sidelines in all weathers is on the horizon.

We often refer to ‘the beautiful game’. Whilst there is beauty to be found in goals and strategy, the game’s real power lies in creating communities where people feel seen, valued and that they belong.  

READ MORE: ‘We need social club socialism’

For centuries football has given people a nucleus to revolve around across generations, provided shared heroes and villains and offered a stable backdrop to the juggling of daily life. Week after week people show up and place trust in their teams because they feel their club belongs to them and they believe they are valued – whether that be by the club or by their peers. 

Football is not powerful because of the game itself – there are many sports people can take an interest in – the game is powerful because of what it creates.

What creates a sense of place?

Each week, millions engage with thinking and talking about football. Regional and national pride becomes purposeful, families and friends congregate and together we invest our time, emotions and loyalty. People connect.

Finding spaces to do this has become more challenging for communities in the last few decades. Since 2000 the closure of libraries, youth clubs and long-standing local pubs has accelerated, and access to quality parks has declined. This, accompanied by the rise of digital lifestyles, has impacted the way people bond and the social cohesion of Britain.

“Let’s build a new national sense of unity, of common purpose and positivity” rallied Andy Burnham in his opening speech.

There is a lot Labour can learn from football – a sport rooted in working-class origins and now shared across generations, backgrounds and borders.

Unity is fuelled by presence. From grassroots to professional, clubs have an active role in their communities. In my early career I saw MK Dons educational outreach first-hand and collaborated with their Football in the Community coaches. Locally, football gets people out of their houses and invites involvement, support and active participation – even when spectating attendees are mentally present.

In contrast, politics can feel distant to the public. There is no clear thread for a sense of shared connection.

Too often, political communications are framed around transactional messaging rather than more organic instances. Both online and in life, football clubs do more. They focus on creating a feeling of access, a feeling that fans could hold a conversation with their idols in some way – they create a level playing field.

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Positive pride and community are cultivated. Since inception, football has given people a shared focus and identity and a sense of ‘this is ours, this is our place’. Team communities collect for food banks, raise money for charity and collectively pay respects when one of their own passes. Players and supporters interact. Whether it’s a former star or the lifelong fan whose space at the sidelines now sits empty, people are noticed. People are cared about. They play an active role even if that just means being there. Does politics facilitate opportunities for constituents to feel this?

To bridge divides – and combat the rise of negative nationalism – Labour must invest in opportunities for the public to feel connection and have shared experiences with those in power and with those that make up their localities. Belonging is built through repetition, familiarity and a sense of being valued. 

Football gives people somewhere they belong. Is the sport perfect? No. But is it something that fans feel that oft-talked about sense of place with? Definitely. 

Andy Burnham speaks of a “new national sense of unity”. Healing fragmentation in Britain will take time and work but is not an impossible dream. Examining why people return to the terraces and the touchlines is a good place to learn how it can be done.

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Scottish Labour now finds itself at a crossroads. Having just suffered a fifth Holyrood election defeat and its worst ever result, the party now has a chance to make the root and branch reform it desperately needs. But for this to happen, a real leadership contest is needed. Some in the party will warn against this. Contests are by nature divisive. Some will claim this is the last thing the party needs. Airing dirty laundry in public, especially when UK Labour has just elected a new leader and Prime Minister, will be dismissed as an indulgence that the Scottish public will not appreciate. 

READ MORE: How might a Scottish Labour leadership election work – and who might stand?

Naturally, speculation about Sarwar’s departure has been afoot since even before the May election. And although no Scottish Labour figure has been able to be drawn on an explicit endorsement, a few possible contenders have been mentioned by name. It is not the names themselves that should be of concern to Scottish Labour members. Rather, it is the suggestion that the prospective leader could face not a contest, but a coronation. This would be tantamount to the party signing its own death warrant. 

What Scottish Labour needs is an open contest, with as many voices as possible heard and a ballot of candidates with a genuinely diverse range of views on the future direction of the party. In 2021, Anas Sarwar and Monica Lennon fought a contest that managed to be both perfectly civil and healthily divisive, with each offering significantly different approaches and ideas. If a coronation ensues over the coming weeks, the new contender, whoever that may be, will not be adequately challenged. Many of those members already disenfranchised with the state of the party will recede further into the wings – or possibly leave the party altogether, as so many have done in recent years. 

Any calls for the party to ensure the swift election of a new leader should be shouted down. Suggestions that the party needs to quickly move on from the recent election defeat and begin working with the new Labour Prime Minister on the issues that matter to the people of Scotland should be looked upon with scepticism. For the fact is Scottish Labour will not get a fair hearing on the economy, health or education until it can rebuild trust with the electorate. 

Debate and disagreement and are nothing to be feared. For a party in terminal decline, they are to be welcomed! The new leader will have to face up to the very real fact that Scottish Labour cannot win power without first rebuilding trust with the independence voters it lost to the SNP in 2015. They will have to accept the fact, backed up by opinion polls and thousands of conversations on the doorsteps, that the party has a fundamental branding problem; that it is not seen as a sufficiently Scottish party. And above all, they will have to accept that the electoral hegemony they once enjoyed across swathes of Scotland, is fast becoming a distant memory. 

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For Scottish Labour, this contest could well turn into a much more existential debate. The party has lost votes and seats in the Scottish Parliament at every election since devolution began. The question for any potential new leader will be what can they offer to turn around more than two decades of decline and rebuild trust with Scottish voters.

The contest will also add fuel to the fire in the debate around whether Scottish Labour should split from the UK-wide party. Michael Marra, the favourite to win, has spoken of the need for “big changes” after the election defeat, while Monica Lennon – set to return to Holyrood after Sarwar’s resignation – has been a proponent of such a split for many years. However, polling suggests that such a move may not prove as fruitful as some campaigners hope for.

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Although no candidate has officially entered the contest, Lennon, Marra and Paul Sweeney are all in contention. Reporting by The Courier suggests that the stage could be set for a head-to-head contest against Marra to prevent his victory. A Labour insider told the paper: “If it’s a competition between Michael and Paul, Michael wins. But if it’s a competition between Michael and Monica, Monica wins.”

How soon might the starting gun on the contest be fired? We may know the answer to that very soon, as LabourList understands the Scottish Executive Committee may meet this evening to determine the timetable for an election. One source told us that the timetable could resemble that of 2021, when a new leader was elected in the space of six weeks. If that ends up being the case, say goodbye to a politics-free summer…

At a time when the SNP’s star was waning among Scots, May was a missed opportunity to boot them from power. This election will no doubt set the mood music for who will be seen to carry the can for that defeat: Sarwar or Starmer.

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In his previous Treasury role, Healey looked at how to make the spatial distribution of economic activity across the country more even, through institutions such as the Regional Development Agencies of the New Labour period (sadly demolished at a stroke by the incoming Coalition government) and initiatives such as the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative. He therefore brings both experience and a clear commitment to this agenda. 

Having the Treasury firmly behind this agenda is crucial. That was true in Gordon Brown’s time as Chancellor and it will again be now. Indeed, the emergence of modern metro Mayors was driven by George Osborne’s Treasury, while the Levelling Up project wilted without the then Chancellor’s backing. We are now hearing that responsibility for local economic growth will shift to the No.10 North, but that will not get us far unless Healey makes sure that the Treasury is fully on board – and I am sure he will. 

READ MORE: ‘Doing things differently everywhere’

In light of this, The Future Governance Forum (FGF) has five recommendations for the new Chancellor as he seeks to make a success of this agenda.

First, John Healey should devolve more power over expenditure to the Mayoral Combined Authorities. The integrated settlements are a great start, but need to go much further. They represent a significant opportunity to support regional reform through revenue assignment, with strategic authorities controlling multi-year budgets that could enable them to reprofile programmes and investment towards prevention. This would be consistent with Andy Burnham’s talk of a ‘preventative state’ and his desire to put place at the centre of his government’s programme. We think ‘place-based pilots’ (announced in the Autumn 2025 Budget) should lead to full Total Place style settlements that extend integrated settlements to a much wider range of public service spending.

Second, the Chancellor should devolve more funding – including capital budgets and elements of the National Wealth Fund – to regional and local government. He should also follow through on, and potentially accelerate, the work on fiscal devolution begun by Rachel Reeves so that Mayoral Combined Authorities have greater powers to raise revenue for themselves. 

Third, the Chancellor should introduce a growth investment tracker to shine a light on how the most growth-friendly forms of public investment are currently spread across the country and ensure that in future they are better targeted towards regional growth. This would highlight any unreasonable disparity in public spending between London and the South East and the rest of the country (a disparity Andy Burnham has spoken of), enabling the Chancellor to ensure every postcode in the UK gets the investment it needs to deliver growth.

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Fourth, decisions by the Chancellor and the new No. 10 North on where public investment goes must increasingly put the goal of ‘growth everywhere’ at their heart. This means doing more to promote the strategic case for investment projects outside of South East England (like rail in the North, for example). One way the new Chancellor could do this is by ensuring that civil servants use the recently revised Treasury Green Book guide for investment appraisal in a positive way that supports regional growth. 

Fifth, the Chancellor must look closely at the case for creating regional business banks – new local financial institutions that understand their regions, and better serve small businesses. New ‘gap funder’ banks should also be considered, co-investing alongside venture capital to drive up investment in the regions. They could use the UK’s enormous finance talent pool to create visible, proud local institutions that are close enough to read a region and big enough to act at scale. With expert board and executive teams and a dedicated regional purpose, development banks could connect energy, defence and technology opportunities to underserved local economies.

Securing healthy, sustainable growth for the economy as a whole is a formidable task – although recent figures suggest progress is being made. Boosting growth in all regions of the country, let alone every postcode, will be equally challenging. But by taking forward our proposals, the new Labour Chancellor can make a strong start and set a firm direction of travel for the UK economy.

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The post ‘Five things the Labour Chancellor should do to deliver good growth in every postcode’ appeared first on LabourList.

Like Andy Burnham, my father too had dementia. I saw him spend his life savings to pay for the care he needed – and that experience highlighted what was wrong with the system.

The root of the problem is quite simple: some illnesses we pay for collectively as a society and some we leave to the individual to fund alone. NHS care is public, universal and free at the point of delivery, whilst social care is means-tested and almost exclusively in the hands of the private sector. Unlike the NHS, those in residential and nursing homes have two costs: one for the care they receive and one for their accommodation.

READ MORE: Ben Cooper column: ‘A National Care Service for everyone’

When it comes to residential care, around a third of people are funded by their local authority, the NHS funds around 10% and the rest is made up of people who either pay for all of their care or cover most of it with a top up from their local council.

The challenge of an ageing population demands that society provides for their needs, even if it means reordering the priorities for public spending or changing the tax system. In truth, there is no evidence that today’s workers are unwilling to pay enough tax to fund the kind of care and support that they would wish for their parents and themselves as they get older, but the government has to make the case for doing so and any additional taxation must be applied progressively.

And where might that funding come from? So far there has been a menu of options on offer including increases to National Insurance, Income Tax, a levy on estates, a reduction in pension tax relief and reallocating existing government expenditure. 

Whilst the future funding arrangements for care have yet to be decided, there are nevertheless some guiding principles that should shape any solution. These include:

• Parity of illness: Someone needing treatment for cancer should be treated in the same financial way as someone with dementia.
• Risk pooling: Everyone should pay towards care costs rather than just those who are affected.
• Generational fairness: Young people already pay for the care of the older population in three obvious ways: council tax, income tax that funds Attendance Allowance and the loss of inheritance if their parent/grandparent spend their savings/property on care. If we are concerned at putting too big a financial burden on poorer, younger generations, then the system of funding has to be based on the ability to pay.

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A new National Care Service will also need to look seriously at public provision rather than the dominance of the private sector – otherwise any additional public money to fund social care will go straight to businesses in the form of higher profits in the same way that housing benefits go directly to private landlords. A stronger council house sector – like a proper National Care Service would keep that money in public hands.

Reform of social care will also need to address low wages, exploitation of the visa system by employers and much needed workforce development as a way of raising standards and quality across the sector. As a first step, the distinction between residential and nursing care homes should be removed so that the full range of staff can be employed to reflect the needs of the residents and domiciliary care services should be brought back into local authority control as contracts expire.

For years there has been widespread agreement that there needs to be a long-term solution to how social care is funded. Ultimately, the way we pay for cancer care, through general taxation that shares the burden across society as a whole, should be the same as the way we fund dementia care. 

The public knows this and so does Andy Burnham.

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Andy pledged to “set a direction that is distinctively Labour” – and what could be more emblematic of that shift than to speak at the home of the trade union movement. 

Before he came into office, I urged the new Prime Minister to make sure that every announcement shows working people he’s on their side – and his first week has been a clear statement of intent. 

On Monday, his first day as Prime Minister, he pledged to end rough sleeping. On Tuesday, he announced a cut to VAT on energy bills. On Wednesday, he brought back the £2 cap on bus fares. And on Thursday, he’s pledged to cut business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues. 

It all comes at a time when working people are up against it with pay packets squeezed, over a million people stuck on insecure zero-hour contracts, and a million young people not in employment, education, or training. 

READ MORE: Britain, and Labour, believing in ourselves again

Energy bills have gone up by £437 since May 2021 costing households an extra £2,500 over the last five years. And with Donald Trump’s illegal war in Iran once again spiraling out of control, cost of living pressures are only going to get worse: the new price cap means that households are going to go up on average by another £221 a year. 

The VAT cut on energy bills announced this week will save the average household about £45 a year. That’s an important step which will offer some breathing space for people up and down the country, just as Andy has promised.  

But the new Prime Minister and Chancellor are going to have to go further in the cold winter months ahead. 

That’s why the TUC is calling for a permanent social tariff to knock hundreds of pounds off energy bills – with an emergency ratchet to increase support during acute energy crises like this one. 

The lowest income households would see an immediate 30% cut to their bills, saving up to £559 a year. Those on below average incomes would have 20% knocked off, saving up to £373, while middle and some higher income households would have bills cut by 10%, saving up to £186. 

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That’s support for two thirds of households, with most others covered by the existing price cap.

And we’re clear about how to pay for it. While working people have been under the cosh, the big banks have been raking it in. The financial sector paid out over £25 billion in bonuses last year, with the big four banks making over a billion pounds a week in profit in the first quarter of 2026. 

The Tories cut the bank surcharge – the extra corporation tax paid by banks on their profits – from 8 to 3%. Just reversing that cut would bring in £9 billion over four years. 

But if you tax the banks’ windfall profits at 35% – the same level as the Conservative government taxed the big energy companies – you could bring in up to £60 billion over four years.  

Andy has pledged to reindustrialise Britain, to support young people back into work, and to undo forty years of Thatcherism that have decimated communities. 

That’s an ambitious programme for government that could shift the economy back towards working people – and shielding households from punishing bill rises is the crucial first step. 

It would set a direction that’s distinctively Labour – and clearly show working people that this government is on their side.

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Each week during recess, Paul Dimoldenberg looks at economic news from across the country to identify what “good growth” looks like in a diverse set of local communities to deliver the much-needed economic growth to power the economy and deliver new jobs, increased wealth and additional tax revenues to pay for improved public services.

Derby: Rolls-Royce starts work on major Derby expansion creating 1,170 jobs

Rolls-Royce Submarines has begun construction work on a major expansion of its Derby manufacturing base as it ramps up production for UK and Australian submarine programmes. A new manufacturing facility at its Raynesway site, part of a wider investment programme, will more than double the size of the operation. The expansion will add more than 100,000 sq m of manufacturing and office space and create 1,170 skilled jobs across engineering, manufacturing and support functions.

The investment is designed to increase production capacity for current and future submarine programmes operated by the Royal Navy and under the AUKUS defence partnership between the UK, Australia and the US. The Derby operation designs and manufactures the nuclear reactors that power every submarine in the Royal Navy fleet and will also supply reactors for Australia’s future SSN-AUKUS attack submarines.

During his visit, Defence Minister Lord Coaker met Rolls-Royce nuclear welding apprentices who recently secured the top four places in the SkillWeld 26 East Midlands heats. Rolls-Royce Submarines employs more than 5,500 people and currently supports the Astute and Dreadnought submarine programmes, as well as providing in-service support for the Royal Navy’s submarine fleet.

Runcorn: Extension planned for Runcorn Guinness factory

A 40,000 sq ft kegging plant is to be added to Diageo’s Murdishaw bottling and packaging operation amid the stout’s steep rise in popularity. The £20bn-turnover Diageo, which owns Guinness and Smirnoff, has applied to Halton Council to increase the size of its Runcorn facility by developing a two-acre plot to its west.

Guinness has risen in popularity in recent years, in part due to the ‘Split the G’ trend, which sees drinkers attempt to gulp down a precise amount of their pint so that the head sits perfectly on the bar of the letter G on the glass’s branding.

Sheffield: Sheffield medical equipment manufacturer unveils major expansion

Peacocks Medical Group of Sheffield has announced a major expansion including a new manufacturing facility, technology investment and an expanded product portfolio, marking a significant milestone in its 123-year history. Having doubled in size over the past five years, the company has opened a second manufacturing facility in Sheffield – complementing its long-established headquarters and manufacturing base in Newcastle – alongside the launch of its own brand product range and a series of exclusive UK distribution agreements with leading clinical product manufacturers.

The 4,000 sq ft Sheffield facility, which opened in early July, is set to meet growing demand across PMG’s expanding national NHS contract portfolio. Both of the company’s facilities are transitioning to high-technology, automated production methods – incorporating 3D manufacturing technology and robotics. Alongside its manufacturing expansion, PMG is launching its own branded product range and entering into a number of exclusive UK distribution agreements with specialist manufacturers and products, such as Wellwalking, Fito, On Zen and MediRoyal, with several other agreements in advanced stages.

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Kent: £3bn data centre near Ebbsfleet set to create up to 400 jobs

A new data centre is set to be developed near Ebbsfleet, in Kent, creating more than 700 jobs during construction and 400 permanent roles once operational. The Ebbsfleet AI Data Centre Campus will span 90 acres on a 145-acre site close to the HS1 railway line and A2 motorway, with development costs expected to exceed £3bn. Buildings at the campus are expected to have a footprint of approximately 645,000 sq ft, with infrastructure split across up to four units.

Following public consultations through autumn 2026, Clearstone aims to submit a planning application in 2028 and is targeting an operational start date of 2030, subject to consent. If approved, the development would be one of the first data centres to follow the UK’s Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) planning regime.

West Midlands: Bridgnorth Aluminium completes £180m investment programme

Bridgnorth Aluminium has completed a new thin-gauge slitting line as part of a wider £180m investment programme at its Stourbridge Road facility, strengthening the long-term future of the UK’s last remaining aluminium rolling mill. The company, which traces its origins back to Wolverhampton-based Star Aluminium almost 90 years ago, has recently returned to 24/7 production and created 35 new jobs in the first half of this year following a period of operational restructuring.

Having historically served the printing, packaging and construction sectors, Bridgnorth Aluminium has expanded into higher-growth markets including energy and cleaner mobility, with a recent five-year agreement to supply specialist material to Lotte Aluminium USA for battery applications.

Grimsby: Grimsby green tech firm hits 10-year milestone as millionth sale looms

Clean energy technology manufacturer myenergi is celebrating its 10th anniversary after growing from a two-person start-up into one of the Humber region’s largest private sector success stories. Founded in Grimsby in 2016, the company has expanded from launching a single product designed to maximise the use of household solar power to become an international business employing more than 250 people across 10 countries.

The company, which manufactures home energy technologies including EV chargers and energy management systems, expects to sell its one millionth product this year as demand for electrification and home energy independence continues to grow. From its base in North East Lincolnshire, myenergi has established operations in the UK, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia, while building a nationwide network of installers supporting the rollout of connected home energy technologies. The company has created skilled jobs, invested in British manufacturing and worked with installers across the country to bring smarter energy technology to hundreds of thousands of homes and driveways.

Derbyshire: Acres Engineering supports production of Boxer armoured vehicle

Derbyshire manufacturer Acres Engineering is expanding its defence work after delivering its first products to help ramp up production of the new Boxer armoured vehicle for the British Army. The 8×8-wheeled, all-terrain, armoured transport machine is to become the new British Mechanised Infantry Vehicle. 

Acres is helping armoured vehicle maker Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) to produce hundreds of the Boxer. The company has worked with RBSL for a number of years and these are its first projects connected with the Boxer project, with talks ongoing for more. Acres has now completed projects such as an engine stand and driver’s hatch trolley, which have enabled RBSL to increase its own capacity to deliver major orders to the British Army. The Boxer programme supports 1,000 skilled jobs and more than 100 suppliers. About 75 per cent of each British-built Boxer is sourced from UK companies.

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