Andy Burnham calls for ‘strong public control’ of industry and AI

Politician Andy Burnham, who is threatening to overthrow the leadership of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, has called for tighter regulation of AI, Big Tech and key industries if he returns to central government.

“Let us not forget, a major cause of the 2008 crash was a lack of regulation,” the Labor politician and Mayor of Greater Manchester said in an article published in Britain’s Times newspaper on Thursday evening.

“So could a new wave of deregulation be a plausible solution to the problems we’ve been experiencing since then? This is the kind of thinking that…dooms us to repeat the mistakes of the past, and if we’re not careful, we’ll fail to regulate social media, artificial intelligence, and big tech to protect our children.”

Burnham is not yet a sitting member of the British Parliament, but plans to stand in a by-election in Makerfield, northwest England, on June 18.

His election to Westminster paves the way for him to mount a formal leadership challenge to Starmer, who is under intense pressure to become prime minister following the Labor Party’s crushing defeat in Britain’s local elections. The result leaves Mr Starmer’s position in limbo, with dozens of MPs calling for his resignation and speculation mounting that he understands that some within his ranks are plotting a leadership coup.

Prediction market platform Polymarket currently rates Burnham as the most likely to be Britain’s next prime minister, giving him a 56% chance of becoming prime minister in 2026, compared to a 26% chance that Starmer will remain in office until the end of the year.

Mr Starmer has vowed to keep his job, but if a challenger receives enough support from incumbent politicians, the leadership vote will be left to party members.

Bond markets have been in turmoil in recent weeks with the prospect that Burnham, who is considered more left-wing than Starmer, will replace the incumbent prime minister. An investor in British government bonds known as . gold leafappears to be largely supportive of Starmer and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves remaining in office, citing their commitment to reining in public borrowing and spending.

But Mr Burnham is widely expected to launch a campaign to remove Mr Starmer if he wins a seat in parliament.

Mr Burnham, colloquially known as Labour’s “King of the North”, sought to appease markets last week by contradicting previous comments in which he seemed to suggest Britain was “hung down by the bond market”.

But his Thursday op-ed was written in response to an essay published by Tony Blair, in which he accused Labor of putting the country’s future at risk by prioritizing domestic politics over economic growth and competent governance.

In his rebuttal, Mr Burnham argued that “40 years of neoliberalism” and “the embrace of deregulation and privatization of essential services” had harmed many communities across the UK.

“Trickle-down economics ultimately didn’t trickle down at all,” he said, adding that failing to change course risked Britain being “locked into a toxic and divisive politics like the United States, with all the social damage that comes with it.”

“The lesson from Greater Manchester is that you can’t just leave it to the market,” Burnham added, pointing to interventions in the city’s transport services as an example of regulation that would encourage growth.

“If we want higher growth in regions with no growth, we need strong public control and direction both over investment strategies and the enablers of a more productive economy, such as transport, energy, water, education and housing.”

—CNBC’s Holly Ellyatt and Hugh Leask contributed to this report.