25 September 2026

Labour MPs pressure Burnham over reindustrialisation

A recently-founded caucus has urged the PM to include a commitment to the policy in his conference speech

Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

An 80 strong group of Labour MPs has urged the Prime Minister to “turn rhetoric into reality” and fulfil promises he made on the road to No 10.

The Reindustrialisation Research Group (RRF), a recently-founded caucus of backbenchers, has urged Andy Burnham to stay the course on his commitment to reindustrialising the nation and using the power of No 10 to do so.

“We must not be afraid to take on those that want to stick to the economic status quo that will lead us to further decline,” they have warned in a statement seen by the New Statesman.

The group has welcomed “the steps made so far”, among them reform of procurement rules and the amendment of the government Green Book, the Treasury guidance for evaluating the worth of public spending projects.

“The public have given us a second chance to change the direction of our country; we must not squander it,” said the RRG MPs in a statement.

The MPs have asked Burnham to include a commitment to reindustralisation in his first conference speech as Labour leader and prime minister, scheduled for Tuesday.

“Conference is a chance to lay the groundwork for reindustrialisation ahead of the publication of the Ten Year Plan. We must send a clear signal to all parts of government to begin work on policies to turn reindustrialisation from rhetoric to reality”, they said in their statement.

The 20 officers of the RRG represent different geographical areas and a range of traditions from across the Labour Party, as do the 60 additional backbench members who make up the 80-strong caucus.

The group’s officers are Andy Macnae, Euan Stainbank, Andrew Ranger, Chris Bloore, Jonathan Brash, Jonathan Hinder, Gareth Snell, David Williams, Steve Yemm, Noah Law, Patrick Hurley, Lorraine Beavers, Leigh Ingham, Allison Gardner, Allison Hume, Perran Moon, Henry Tufnell, Linsey Farnsworth, Connor Naismith and Yuan Yang.

Just two months into Burnham’s term as PM, Labour MPs are seeking reassurances on the various commitments including reindustrialisation as Labour continues to try to turn its poll ratings around.

On Friday another group of Labour backbenchers launched a call for the government to go further and faster on reforms to property taxes, claiming that the PM could create a “Burnham boost” worth £10m if he replaced council tax and stamp duty with a “proportional property tax”.

The proposal, backed by Labour MPs Sam Rushworth, Paula Barker, Chris Webb and Lorraine Beavers, is backed by the campaign group Fairer Share.

In his first two months, the Prime Minister focused on headline-making announcements about the cost of living. But questions about his longer 10 Year Plan for the country, which is currently being drafted, are growing louder as his so-called “honeymoon period” begins to wane.

“Rightly, the government has so far been focused on providing some breathing space for households to cope with the cost of living. But this is not a long-term solution,” said the RRG.

Full Statement:

“The Prime Minister has said he wants to bring back hope to our constituents.

It is the theme of this year’s conference.

Over the summer, the Prime Minister gave hope to our constituents by laying out his vision for change in economic direction for the country: reindustrialisation.

This would reverse the series of wrong turns we took over forty years that have weakened our economy and hollowed out communities.

Rightly, the government has so far been focused on providing some breathing space for households to cope with the cost of living. But this is not a long-term solution.

People know that the only way that we can create decent jobs, reduce the cost of living and rebuild our communities is through a new economic model.

Reindustrialisation offers of the prospect of delivering good jobs in every postcode. The plan to deliver this is what gives people hope.

We welcome the steps made so far including reforming procurement rules to focus on job creation, amending the Green Book to encourage more place-based investment and a commitment to backing British business.

At this conference, the Prime Minister must use reindustrialisation to provide an economic circuit breaker, to go alongside the political circuit breaker he has offered with devolution.

We must use party conference to achieve two things:

Set out the goal of reindustrialisation – we need the Prime Minister and Chancellor to clearly define reindustrialisation as the model and the goal. We define reindustrialisation as increasing production-based industries as a share of our economy and creating one million jobs in these sectors, to rebalance our economy. Whether it is our definition, or another, we need to set the goal.
Make the modern case for reindustrialisation – we need to win the argument for why this is necessary, including the need to bring our economy back into trade balance, reduce inflation, increase the resilience of our economy and build on the strengths of the whole country not just a few places. We must not be afraid to take on those that want to stick to the economic status quo that will lead us to further decline.

Conference is a chance to lay the groundwork for reindustrialisation ahead of the publication of the Ten Year Plan. We must send a clear signal to all parts of government to begin work on policies to turn reindustrialisation from rhetoric to reality.

The public have given us a second chance to change the direction of our country; we must not squander it.”

[Further reading: Andy Burnham seizes control]