Stuart Bruce | The PR Futurist 💡

Never thought the day would come and still hoping it won't as XTwitter still works better for me than the alternatives. However, as insurance I'd advise you to follow me on the others and I'll follow you back. All the links on my personal website. stuartbruce.info/#:~:text=NEWSL…

One of the many reasons people are under estimating @AndyBurnhamGM

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Interesting as Andy also served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and later Secretary of State for Health.

Excellent to see @Mather_Keir say this.

I would love to know @RalphBlackburn 's source, because I think they are right.

NEW: West Yorkshire Mayor @TracyBrabin says Andy Burnham should be allowed to stand. She told me: "He’s very talented, we’re friends, we work together, he’s got a lot to offer and I don’t think he should be blocked. I think he should have that opportunity if he wishes."

Labour group leader @cllrawilkinson responded: “Just days in office, and what are Reform’s first actions? To try and stop people asking questions about their work. To take decisions behind closed doors. To reduce accountability."

For decades, Westminster has overseen the managed decline of towns like mine. We have talked big, then acted small, stuck in a politics of incrementalism that cannot meet the moment. We have lost the trust of those our party was built to serve. It is my unwavering belief that nothing short of urgent, radical, courageous reform will make a difference. That must start with a change in leadership. Today, I am putting the people I represent and the country I love first and will be resigning as MP for Makerfield. I am standing aside so that Andy Burnham can return to his home, fight to re-enter Parliament, and if elected, drive the change our country is crying out for. This has not been an easy decision. This is my family’s home, where only a few weeks ago, doctors and nurses at Wigan Infirmary saved our newborn son’s life. But we all must make choices and in recent days I found myself with a difficult one: defend the status quo or step forward and act. I have made my choice. I am in politics because politics is how you change lives for the better. My party has one last chance to do that: deliver for the people and places I represent, drive economic growth, secure our borders, reform our state and politics, and change a status quo that is not working. That is the fight. I believe Andy is the one to lead it.

I can confirm that I will be requesting the permission of the NEC to stand in the Makerfield by-election. I grew up in this area and have lived here for 25 years. I care deeply about it and its people. I know they have been let down by national politics. Ten years ago, I decided to leave Westminster. Why? Because, after 16 years, I came to the conclusion that our national political system does not work for areas like ours. I learnt this fighting its failure to invest in the Wigan borough, for justice for the Hillsborough families and against its treatment of Greater Manchester during the pandemic. Over the last decade, I have been challenging this failure from the outside and building a new and better way of doing politics. We have built Greater Manchester into the fastest-growing city-region in the UK and put buses back under public control, introducing a £2 fare cap to help people with cost-of-living pressures. However, there is only so much that can be done from Greater Manchester. Much bigger change is needed at a national level if everyday life is to be made more affordable again. This is why I now seek people’s support to return to Parliament: to bring the change we have brought to Greater Manchester to the whole of the UK and make politics work properly for people. Millions are struggling and they need the Labour Government to succeed. It has already made changes to make life better for them in its first two years. After this week, we owe it to people to come back together as a Labour movement, giving the Prime Minister and the Government the space and stability they need as the by-election takes place. I want to recognise the difficult decision taken by Josh Simons and the sacrifice he and his family are making. I have worked closely with him as Mayor on issues like flooding and illegal waste dumping and have seen first-hand how effective he has been. He has put the communities of Makerfield first, made a real difference for them and should take great pride in that. Finally, I truly do not take a single vote for granted and will work hard to regain the trust of people in the Makerfield constituency, many of whom have long supported our party but lost faith in recent times. We will change Labour for the better and make it a party you can believe in again. ENDS

Having read the legal conclusion on Angela Rayner’s stamp duty, and having spoken to several lawyers who all agree about the well known complexity in this space, I have a question: How could No 10 be so sure she had breached the ministerial code? Of course, the optics were bad (very bad) but, clearly, it was never cut and dry.

Denis Healey, one of six formidable candidates in Labour's 1976 leadership election, was a grammar school boy from Yorkshire who achieved a double first in classics at Oxford, served in the second world war (including as beachmaster at the Battle of Anzio), was mentioned in dispatches, demobbed as a major, spoke several foreign languages, and was a gifted amateur painter and pianist and all-round aficionado of the arts. My piece examining the decline in calibre of British parliamentarians. paulembery.com/p/titans-and-p…

From Ireland, but could just as easily be the UK. People's lives are threatened by cost of living. The next Labour leader must give them hope. Hope by implementing practical ideas that make a difference. Hope by ability to article and communicate the differences and the vision.

There’s a lot I could say, and will eventually, about thinking behind this work, where it goes etc but for now I want to focus on this from my father’s eulogy for my grandfather. This is what our politics is *for* to me. It must be for something, and someone, or it’s nothing.

💯 It's bonkers you can't sit outside and enjoy a meal in the fresh air.

It is ridiculous, but not the MPs' fault. It is bad rules and guidance from the Electoral Commission. Guidance should be all social media profiles must include a link (could be via a multiple link service) to a transparency page with the information.

NEW SUBSTACK: Much of the post-election analysis has focused on what the local elections mean for Labour. But there are also important implications for local authorities. Three reflections:

The flip side of this is when (not if 🙂) @AndyBurnhamGM does win a difficult by-election it's powerful evidence he's the one to do the same nationally.

In preparation for Keir Starmer's speech I'm removing hard objects from near the TV and getting some cuddly toys ready.

@LukeTryl 💯 In all outs there is an argument for next day because of number. But in councils electing in thirds, there is no need. Bradford doing half on Friday and half on Saturday is bonkers.

Always think the preference should be for overnight counts. Can be persuaded the case particularly in multi member wards and cost for doing Friday. There should be no reason to have counts not concluded by Friday evening apart from the odd multiple recount.

"the public expects government to govern" - There is an easy solution to that. Start to govern. Which is impossible with a leader who doesn't know how.