Hello everyone,
Britain has a new Prime Minister
Andy Burnham takes office today, and the man once known as the King of the North now has the keys to Downing Street. It is a remarkable rise for someone who spent years arguing that power should sit closer to the people it affects, and now he holds the most centralised job in the country.
The questions start immediately. He inherits an economy with weak growth, high debt, and very little room to move on tax or spending, which makes his promise of regional investment and reindustrialisation harder to fund than to announce. He has pledged to fix a social care system he already tried to reform once as Health Secretary, and the welfare bill keeps climbing while his own party pulls in different directions over what to cut. There is a £4.7 billion hole in the defence budget to close. There is Reform UK on one flank and the Greens on the other, both feeding on voters Labour used to count on. There is a Trump White House to manage without losing the room at home.
Seven leaders in a decade tells its own story. The interesting question is not whether Burnham can survive the honeymoon, but whether devolution and “power to the regions” can actually govern a country, or whether it only sounds good from the outside. We will be watching closely, and we suspect you will be too.
Mike is in New York
For those wondering where he has been, Mike has been in New York for a few weeks now. It has been a busy stretch. He recently hosted a panel over in New Jersey, and by all accounts, the conversation was exactly the kind of thing this community exists for: serious people, real disagreement, no shouting.
More on what he has been building stateside soon. For now, know that the work has not slowed down just because the postcode changed.
3. We have extended the hiring deadline
Good news if you have been sitting on an application. We have pushed the deadline for our open roles back by two days, so there is still time.
If you know someone brilliant, this is your nudge to send them our way. The full list of roles and everything they need to apply is in the form attached to this email. Share it widely. The best people usually come through a personal recommendation rather than a job board, so a single message from you could be the thing that lands us our next great hire.
That is everything for this week.
Speak soon,
Claudina
Community Manager, The Common Sense Network
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