About 400 people from around the UK responded to an online callout asking about the values and issues they care about as Andy Burnham entered Downing Street. The words that came up most when people outlined how they wanted the new prime minister to govern were honesty, integrity and courage, and the issues were climate change, cost of living and health and social care.
Values in government
Honesty – Luce, 77, a TV writer from west Wales, said: “Honesty, strength and conviction. I’d like a PM who will fearlessly stand up for the right and not for the popular. Someone who has the innate decency of Starmer but is a better communicator and manager. Someone who will govern without fear or favour. Someone who sees beyond London. I want a PM who has a vision, who communicates that vision, and the energy and management skills to realise it.”
James, 28, a paralegal from London, said: “I would have more faith in a leader, even when they make decisions I don’t like, if I knew the reason they were making them, and that it was based on a code of ethics I could, if not agree with, understand.”
Stuart, 63, a motor industry worker from Staffordshire, said: “My feeling is that we’ve all been beaten about the head a little bit over the last 20-odd years and we just want some truth, and I think the truth can come from just letting the general public in.”
Brian, 69, a retired social worker from Crosby, Merseyside, said: “I would like him to have a willingness to say what he actually believes rather than pandering to what focus groups have told him, what he thinks people want to hear.”
Integrity – Daniel, a researcher from the south-west, said: “Absolute integrity, transparency. Talk to people: have online town hall meetings – get your advisers on the ground to identify the people holding this country together – usually volunteers – talk to them! Get your ideas from them – not self-interested management consultants (although I’m not saying they are all bad!)”
Chris, an independent analyst from Norfolk, said: “Candour, first. Andy Burnham says he wants to level with the public. The test of that starts with his own position. He becomes prime minister without a general election, on the votes of Labour members and MPs, not the country. A leader who means ‘politics differently’ would seek an early mandate, or at least submit to a confidence vote in the Commons, rather than govern for years on a manifesto the public gave to someone else. He also needs to be absolutely honest about cost and consequences. I want to see open and honest politics and politicians that display only the highest standards of integrity and accountability.”
Annie, 72, from Devon, said: “We need to build consensus; more freedom for MPs to vote with their conscience and less power of the whips. We need more integrity and honesty.”
Courage – Steve, 63, retired from Harrogate, said: “Have the courage to do a few big things well. Dismiss the tittle tattle and day-to-day nonsense. Give your message and back it up with actions. In any changes, there will be losers. There will be noise. Get over it.”
Euan, 26, a jobseeker from Leeds, said: “I’d like to see some daring, frankly, and largely in an economic sense. In a country where the cost of rent is pushing people out of their home towns, destroying the high street, massively inflating the welfare budget and, in an increasingly large number of cases, forcing people into poverty and homelessness, we can’t continue to stand on the frankly pathetic grounds of ‘let’s hope the private sector builds enough housing to lower costs, despite it being against their best financial interests and the government putting no real pressure on them to do so.’ Too many successive governments have thought they could run on a platform of trying their absolute best to upset nobody, and ended up pleasing nobody as well.”
Matt, 45, a writer from London, said: “Someone who calls out the divisive and fear-based policies of other parties instead of leaning into them. That will take courage, and I think it will require being able to articulate how much banks and big business are to blame for the widening gap between rich and poor (i.e. that cost of living crises are not the fault of immigrants).”
Fairness, communication and compassion
People also want the new government to be more fair, communicate effectively and govern with compassion.
Fairness – Tom, 33, an operations manager from Essex, said: “Instead of the usual Punch and Judy politics, we need to see genuine cross-party cooperation where good ideas matter more than which side suggested them. Westminster is far too top-heavy, so power and decision-making need to be properly decentralised and handed down to local communities. Ultimately, we need a complete constitutional overhaul so that how decisions are actually made becomes fairer, more transparent and much less detached from everyday life.”
Communication – Mick, 74, from Cambridge, said: “I would like the prime minister to be visible on TV to let the people know what is happening in politics – to share the journey with them – it’s called good communication; to be open about the need to raise taxes to pay for this that will benefit society, instead of the false promises that taxes will not be raised. To behave as if they are managing a budget on behalf of and in the best interests of their voters, like ordinary households have to manage.”
Jon, 37, an analyst from London, said: “Communicate the wins better, communicate the vision better, listen to your backbenchers and engage them before blundering into problems.”
Compassion – Ana, 35, a part-time gardener from West Sussex, said: “I would like to see compassion for the most destitute and vulnerable. Listen to the most vulnerable, the unheard of [in] society. Our societal system isn’t working. It is failing the most vulnerable and that simply says it all. Act and enact change from compassion.”
Issues and policies
Climate crisis – Samantha, 35, works in media from Oxfordshire, said: “I would like someone who listens to the public and not the ultra wealthy and lobbyists. I want a robust action plan to tackle the climate crisis and ensure Britain is prepared to deal with the effects of climate change including improving infrastructure, investing in agriculture and renewable energy. I want someone who will stand up to the fossil fuel lobby and not crumble under the pressure, we need net zero and we need it now.”
Annie, 72, from Devon, said: “I would like to see the next PM address climate and nature harm. We also need to put in place urgent adaptation measures against extreme weather, including in schools and hospitals.”
Robert, 62, retired from Kent, said: “Burnham needs to get to grips with the environment. Renationalise the water companies. Our rivers and seas are polluted while the private companies pay dividends and massive salaries to CEOs who destroy our environment. Likewise, fully renationalise our other utilities and speed up the transition to a green energy economy.”
Cost of living and inequality – Su, 65, retired from Suffolk, said: “We can’t have a society in 2026 that is so unequal that you’ve got people who can afford to have a financial adviser to pay whatever tax their moral compass points to, but then you have people like one elderly woman who died of severe hypothermia because she was terrified of putting on the heating and high energy bills. Hopefully, Burnham will have that at the forefront of his mind.”
Louise, 49, a stay-at-home mum from Stockport, said: “I would like to see genuine structural changes to make a difference to people living in poverty, especially children. I don’t want just more tinkering around the edges. I want there to be proper investment in our public services and housing.”
Laurie, works in the public sector from the West Midlands, said: “I would like to see Andy Burnham work in the interests of the British people, people from all communities. His first action must be to deal with the ongoing and everlasting cost of living crisis and cost of energy crisis.”
Douglas, 66, a retired teacher from Aberdeenshire, said: “Three years is not much time to make many significant changes. What people will need to measure is a reversal in their standard of living – energy and food costs would be a start. If ordinary people do not feel it in their wallets then Burnham will be unlikely to gain a majority in the next election. Reducing inequality is the right way to go.”
Health and social care – Su, 65, retired from Suffolk, said: “The number of people I talk to on a daily basis who want an absolutely tip-top NHS, but when you mention putting up taxes to pay for it, people aren’t willing to pay for it. I think we need to be honest with ourselves about what we expect from our public services with the resources we’ve got. A conversation could be had around what we can afford as a country, and what we are prepared to do without?”
John, 60, a statistician from London, said: “I want to see deliverables. On adult social care: we’ve been talking about this for years, but have done nothing. Care workers should be regarded as professionals (and paid as such), and it should be possible to register for an NHS dentist.”
Jakob, 25, works in higher education from Leeds, said: “My partner is on Pip [personal independence payment] and I’ve had friends who have been on Pip their entire lives, but it becomes an exercise in point scoring. It feels very impersonal, very dehumanising. What I would want from a new government is more care, to move away from having private firms doing assessments and take into account the context of people’s situations.”
Housing, international affairs and other priorities
People who responded to the call-out also wanted Andy Burnham to focus on housing, international affairs including closer ties to the EU, defence, work and education for young people and electoral reform.
Housing – Stuart, 63, motor industry worker from Staffordshire, said: “We have measured success by the number of houses built, but I think we should measure success by the quality of lives these homes create. Local authorities are used to having skills and teams that deliver housing at scale. Many have lost that expertise in infrastructure and I think that needs to be put right.”
International affairs – Trudi, 52, a charity worker from London, said: “The next PM needs to be taking a firmer approach towards the USA and Israel, in the style of the Spanish PM. We have the economic and diplomatic leverage in terms of sanctions, trade and travel bans to put a spotlight on Israel’s actions in Gaza and the American administration’s decimation of international aid and domestic green energy.”
John, 47, an editor and publisher from Lancaster, said: “He [Andy Burnham] is right to say that Gaza is a scar on our collective conscience and I would like to see something concrete done about it.”
Defence – Steven, 66, a retired civil servant from Blackpool, said: “Labour must not be afraid to increase income tax in order to afford their capital programmes and the necessary increase in defence spending. Also, Labour must end the scourge of off-shoring unless it is necessarily a part of Nato and EU coordinated programmes.”
Michelle from Gateshead said: “Fund an increase in defence spending through a wealth tax rather than making cuts that will affect vulnerable groups.”
Closer ties to EU – Ruby, 25, a student from London, said: “Repair Britain’s economy by fixing our relationship with the EU and undoing as much of the harm of Brexit as possible.”
Education and work for young people – Christine, 71, a former primary school teacher from Birmingham, said: “I feel that we are producing a generation of children who do not enjoy learning. I also think that hot-housing and spoon-feeding to achieve results is not equipping young adults with the skills they need to survive in the world of work (if they can get it). The rise of AI in the workplace is contributing to the unemployment figures and that is an issue that will only get worse. This is a problem that is going to need a lot of thought and possibly radical action.”
Electoral reform – Jeremy, retired from Bath, said: “Electoral reform including abolition of the Lords could be the start of doing things differently, together with tackling political donations, the lobbying industry and the ‘revolving doors’ culture of MPs and civil servants.”
Other issues that were discussed included education reform with people wanting it to be more inclusive and less target-driven. Immigration was also something people spoke about. They wanted a fairer, more compassionate and economically pragmatic approach.
