LBC interview with Andrew Marr: politics done differently, tax, welfare and Number 10 North

it has been a whirlwind. Um but I'm still in a contest. So no assumptions.

I think that's what the public want. They don't enjoy the point scoring at all. I often uh have people say to me, I just scream at the radio, tell us what you would do. And I kind of feel politicians have to answer that call from the public, say what we'll do, but then also work to find common ground with other parties where we can.

Well, I've done that very thing thing in Greater Manchester because I brought forward a review into grooming gangs when I was um first elected as mayor in 2017 and I had to work with the conservative leader of uh Bolton and the Libdem leader of Stockport. So, that's been the politics that I've been doing. And Britain does need something different. We've had a decade where politics really has not been working for people at all. Uh we can't do more of the same.

And this is what I was saying in the speech this week. The time has come for a circuit breaker to try something different. And I've been really excited by the reaction I've had to the speech this week. People have been coming up to me saying, "Okay, I like what you're saying. I like the idea of more power out of Westminster into places around the country, particularly those that have been forgotten." And yeah, I think the country is ready for a change.

I'm going to stick to what I'm saying and you know people will have to uh judge me if I am in that position where I am uh at the dispatch box. Uh I am going to do it differently. I'm going to do politics differently where there's a difference. Of course, you point it out, but you don't do the point scoring in the way that it's uh normally done in the House Commerce. I think people are really fed up with it.

And this is a really important point. You can't go around pointing fingers when you haven't been good enough yourselves. And I would say that all politicians haven't been good enough. Actually,

Yeah, I I would accept it. My generation of politicians I think has failed in many ways in that the country isn't where it should be right now. The country needs lifting up and at some point someone has to step forward and say you know what this does mean uh practicing a different way of working and trying to bring people uh together. In Greater Manchester I've said place first not party first problem solving not point scoring long-term not short-term. And I think those are three good principles to underpin British politics at a national level going forward.

I believe so. I do think Westminster needs quite significant culture change. I said this week it it didn't feel like the place I left when I came back uh last Monday. It does feel uh a more fragmented place uh unhappier in many ways. And I think we do need to rediscover a sense of team spirit.

I personally don't think the whip should be used um to punish people who have a vote on a matter of conscience.

I I didn't um see that done in the the Blair and Brown years and I and I don't think it builds the sort of common uh spirit that you need the the uh sense that everybody uh is involved that you know people can take a different position and it's not the end of the world if if they if they do that. More broadly, I do think uh we've got to find a better way of involving uh people in the work in the work of the government. MPs have got a lot to offer, but I also think we need to empower them. And this is what I'm talking about when I'm saying take power out of Westminster and put it into the regions and into their constituencies. We've got an unaccountable outsourced state.

Often we've got bodies at a national level that don't listen, that don't act in Makerfield on flooding. You know, it it flooded seriously in 2015 and again in 2025. That's just not acceptable. We've got an illegal rubbish tip that hasn't been moved again. That is not acceptable.

MPs need uh to be given more power to make the state accountable to their their communities.

Yes. And let me take you back to the speech I gave at the count uh in Makerfield uh when I said I see this as a last chance to change particularly for the Labour party. You could say for politics more more broadly. People are giving up on it and that has got to be addressed with a really new way of thinking about things a freshness in what we do. What?

Make no mistake, what I am putting forward here is a very different approach when it comes to the political direction that is not up for negotiation. Let me just be clear with your listeners, Andrew, what that is. It is an end to trickle down economics, which did not trickle down very much at all uh to places like Makerfield. It's an end to neoliberalism. That means the the deregulation, the privatization, you has left us in a position, if you look at something like water, where the shareholders never lose, the public never win because they're paying ever higher bills, but that money isn't going into infrastructure to benefit them.

It's going out uh to to the shareholders and this is this is the change. But then to deliver that change to come back to your question I want uh there to be the most inclusive uh uh approach to building the team so that all parts of the party uh can see themselves represented within it

No, I haven't made uh those decisions and uh deliberately not because

and I think it's been a little frustrating for me in the last uh sort of 10 days, two weeks because kind of Westminster goes into its normal mode and it wants to endlessly speculate about personalities before um policy and before direction. and I very deliberately have said no, I'm going to set out a new direction for the country and I did that on Monday. I was pleased uh with how it's been received. Uh and I think it's really important that that that's done. Now, I didn't answer questions and some people criticize me for that.

But again, I'm challenging some of the prevailing culture where it immediately will go into a western obsession.

Well, I'm you know, it's obviously um a big a big moment, isn't it? And uh you know, obviously I want to build that inclusive team. I I wouldn't say disappointed. um you know people are entitled to to put their case but uh I think it's really important that firstly people understand what is being proposed here uh and then consider what their contribution to delivering that new direction for the country might be

Yes, I I stick by the manifesto and the promises that it made. So, let me be absolutely clear about that. But there is some room uh within that manifesto for movement on tax. So if you take business rates for instance, I believe there is a case uh for higher business rates on warehouses and the major developments we see uh on the outskirts of our cities so that we can cut business rates for pubs and I've proposed a 20% cut and lift some high street businesses out of business rates altogether. I say some and not all because I think it's important to if you like prioritize and reward the b the businesses that bring social benefit, the businesses that bring people together, the bars, the restaurants, the coffee shops, the hairdressers because the high street um really needs to get more of our attention.

We need to bring life to the high street. So I, you know, I'm looking at things where, uh, where I can make a change that answers some of the issues that we see up and down high streets across across Britain. Uh, but overall people can be certain of me of one thing of me. I read some of the commentary. I am not in disciplined when it comes to the public finances.

I was in the treasury. I ran the department of health and uh, we had a very uh, healthy health. It was tight, but we had a very uh healthy set of finances. I've run Greater Manchester, the fastest growing city region in the country for a decade. And you can't make it the fastest growing city region in the country, Andrew, without strong business confidence.

the finances I run in Greater Manchester are rock solid. And from those rock solid public finances come business confidence that has helped us get the growth. And I I actually get frustrated at some of the the narrative that people try to put around about me. My record says says otherwise.

Yeah. And I just gave you an example of how I would do that uh in relation to to business rates, but you also mentioned energy costs. And I want to come back to this point about Britain paying too much for the basics. People are paying too much, but businesses are also paying too much. And that is certainly true of energy.

And what I would do if successful is lay out a plan for more public control over water, energy, transport. so that over the period we can get those bills down, fairs down, uh, and give people and give businesses breathing space. Britain needs more breathing space, Andrew. I heard that on on doorstep after doorstep in in Maker Field. We do need to be serious about putting more money back into people's pockets.

Yes, but it's going to be again something that I will do in a different way to the usual way that it's done uh down here in Westminster. You often will get uh an approach, you know, calls in newspapers for uh people to be tough on benefits and crude.

I hope so. So, let me explain what I'm proposing. I'm not going to go with the crude cuts to benefit levels that then just put people who are struggling in even worse poverty and that often creates the backlash and understandably uh so there's a different approach which is looking at uh two things that can be done differently to get the overall benefits build down. One of those is how we support young people. I will not defend an education system that is overly focused on the university route and does not lay out paths to technical qualifications for our young people.

Too many young people get to year 10 at school and they can't see where school is taking them because the system isn't focusing on those young people. We need an education system balanced between academic and technical. And then at 16, I believe we need the guarantee of a work placement for 16 to 18 year olds, apprenticeships for every 16 to 8-year-old who wants one. And what what I've done in Greater Manchester is something that might be looked at more broadly, free bus travel for 16 to 18 year olds so that they can access those opportunities. In my view, if we did that and we changed the way we provide mental health support to young people so that a massive change in work support, I believe you can substantially reduce the number of needs.

If you build more council homes, you can bring down the housing benefit bill. You do it over a longer term in a more sustainable way.

Sure.

Yeah.

I didn't have all of the uh all of uh the details. I wasn't in all of the discussions, but to be fair, you know, the government had had an internal process ongoing. Uh

I regard it as something that the country has to face up to very seriously. We're in a changing world. The nature of the threat is changing. What I can say to you tonight is I will take my responsibilities fully to fund the defense investment plan. If I am in the position to do so, I will take those responsibilities extremely seriously.

No compromise on the security of the nation more broadly. I just think we need to build the resilience of the country uh in all of our in all of our places.

Yeah, it's it's really exciting. Um, this is about obviously extending um the uh the Downing Street operation but particularly creating a north pole if you like so that the country can see that that power is more balanced. Number 10 North will act in the interests of everywhere though it's the aim of it.

there is already a proposal for a government digital campus uh close to Manchester Piccadilly. So it is my intention uh if I get the opportunity is to base it uh there

I will spend time there because I think it's really important to show a new drive around taking power out of Westminster. Why? To get growth in every postcode around around the country. The country is not wired for growth at this moment in time. I have shown in Greater Manchester how to get growth going.

I want to take what we've done there, make it available to the Midlands, to the southwest, to the east of England, all parts of it. And actually, here's something, and I didn't touch on this in the speech, give London a new devolution deal. More freedom uh to do more for itself, more powers over education, over housing, more economic development uh powers because I think we can free London up actually uh to go much further and to remain the world's greatest capital city, which is

Now, can I say, Andrew, we only be well, we struggled, let's say, and full respect to the uh Congo, Democrat, Republic of Congo, but I think we might be getting ahead of ourselves. There's a very big game coming up on on Sunday. We do have to live in hope. Um, I think uh, you know, it might be a bit premature to be start [laughter] speculating.

it would be a fantastic moment, wouldn't it? Uh, and we can hope and pray that it that it comes uh comes off. But, as I say, let's not I'm an Evertonian. I do not ever bank anything when it comes to football. Uh, I don't do it with England either.

I think they've got a bit of improvement to do before we can start uh, seriously uh, uh, dreaming of it coming home.