Good news for Burnham: A strong climate vision speaks to both the north and the south

20 July 2026

Paul McNamee

Paul McNamee is director and founder of LCEF

On a hill in my hometown of St Helens, sitting in the north-west of England between Liverpool and Manchester, sits a 66-foot sculpture of a young woman’s head emerging from the ground, eyes closed in contemplation. Built on the old Sutton Manor Colliery site, the statue is made from sparkling white dolomite in stark contrast to the coal which was mined here and once powered the town’s economy and provided energy for the whole of the UK. Fitting for a town whose old motto was Ex Terra Lucem (from the ground, light).

Other sites visible from this hill serve as reminders of the town’s history: the Manchester-to-Liverpool trainline which ran past Bold Colliery where my grandfather worked most of his life; the cooling towers of the Fiddler’s Ferry coal plant which was decommissioned in 2020.

But the Sutton Manor site, now run as a community forest and green space (I mostly go nowadays for park run), is also surrounded by sites that represent the clean technologies and industries of the region’s future. Back towards town is Glass Futures, a world-leading innovation hub researching solutions for the future of materials industries, including the glass industry which continues to be a major part of the local economy.

Just out of sight to the south is the Ellesmere Port Vauxhall plant, the first electric-vehicle only factory in the UK, and the Halewood car plant which has received millions in investment to upgrade to EV production.

Tackling a false narrative

These are the places that matter as Andy Burnham enters No 10 and starts to set out his stall on the economy and reindustrialisation, creating a place-based approach to government, and ultimately giving people back control. His unashamed focus on workers and industry has some in political and media circles interpreting this as a move away from what they describe as “middle class pursuits” such as tackling climate change. In 2025 online news coverage was 160% more negative towards net zero than public sentiment. Similarly, at least 57% of Labour MPs assume support for net zero is lower than it is, and their confidence in the electoral advantage of net zero policies has almost halved in the last few years.[1] But these interpretations fundamentally misunderstand where the public stand on climate and environmental issues and underestimate the support that still exists in the industrial areas of the north.

Despite populist forces and parts of the press attempting to make climate a culture war issue, as it is in the US, there is no evidence of a net zero backlash in the UK. Even as we face deepening political volatility, and widening views on certain aspects of our culture, support for climate and environmental ambition remains strong across all parts of the electorate. Over two-thirds[2] of voters want to see the UK meet its net zero target and even a majority of Reform voters support action to halt climate change[3]. And levels of climate concern are, at 84 per cent, the same among people who identify as working class as across the general population[4].

Economy and industrialisation

St Helens is still suffering the effects of a transition done badly in the ‘80s. The closure of the mines under the Thatcher government with no plans for the workers, the local economy, or the communities dependent on the industry can still be felt in the high street and the housing estates to this day. But few are calling for the reopening of the mines.

The green transition of the 21st century must have this front of mind as it invests in the workers of the future. Unlike the large site- and plant-based industries of the 20th century, net zero businesses are much more likely to be small and medium-sized with fewer than 10 workers. These are the solar panel and heat pump installers, the charging infrastructure industries, and the innovative tech start-ups popping up across the region. The UK’s net zero economy is now a substantial part of the industrial base, generating around £105 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) and supporting 1.1 million jobs. In the north-west, this translates to £9.7 billion of GVA and 111,800 jobs[5]. St Helens college has indicated its future direction with a dedicated green energy skills centre.

This does not mean that there are not concerns to address. The clean transition must address unions’ advocacy for their workers and create job and growth opportunities in every region, prosperity in every postcode. Investment in the transition has the potential to anchor jobs in construction, manufacturing and engineering, as well as build on investment in skills and training. This must be backed by an active industrial strategy: delivering on the ambition of the Clean Energy Jobs Plan, investing in training pipelines, and ensuring supply chains are located in the UK so that the economic value of the transition is captured domestically and the benefits felt by working communities. As Louise Haigh, closely linked with the Burnham premiership, told the Political Heat podcast this year:

“the exact wrong lesson to take from the crisis in the Middle East or the energy shock when Russia invaded Ukraine was to say, well, this is why we need to be more dependent on fossil fuel. It's actually why we need far more home grown energy.

And that includes producing and manufacturing all the elements of the production of energy here as well. There's no point in investing in solar when we're relying on solar panels that are almost exclusively built and manufactured in China. So that needs to be the industrial agenda alongside it.”

Creating a place-based approach

As a Prime Minister coming directly from local government, Burnham has made it clear that devolution and creating a sense of place is fundamental to his politics. A third of Britons identify parks and green spaces as their biggest source of local pride, rising to more than half when local nature is included.[6]

Improvements to local green spaces give people a connection to their local history and culture - the local canals and rail embankments that vein through St Helens is a perfect example. But they can also show tangible delivery when faith from the public for government to get anything done is at historic lows[7]. Interestingly, voters believe local green spaces are one of the things that ‘benefit everyone equally’, building in a sense of fairness to this approach. Inserting local parks and green spaces into the popular Pride in Place scheme will give local leaders the opportunity to show policies being implemented with communities, not done to them. And communities will need to see the tangible impacts – cleaner air on the high streets, solar on schools, sports clubs protected from floods, improved green space - before the next election if the government is to receive the electoral benefit of action.

People don’t see their environment as a policy silo or something to be traded off against growth, they see it as a holistic part of the places they live, work, and enjoy themselves.

Giving people control

Climate and environmental ambition also helps the new government show it takes long-term security seriously. The cost of living is already impacting families across the nation, but a changing climate will have exponentially adverse impacts on the drivers of the costs of living: more volatile global fossil fuel markets; rising food bills and domestic food insecurity caused by poor harvests; more extreme weather events leading to a more unstable world. The proportion of Britons who strongly agree the world is becoming a more dangerous place has risen ten percentage points since 2020[8], a sentiment particularly felt by voters more likely to be working class[9].

This has been reflected on the ground this year. The Met Office has estimated the extreme heat events over the summer have led to 2,700 excess deaths. 86% of the voting public think climate change is partially responsible for the extreme heat this year.[10] But whilst climate impacts are most likely felt by the lowest earners and the most vulnerable, these communities also know that a sense of security can only come from a liveable plant for their grandchildren, with a stable climate, a healthy environment, and a thriving natural world.

Building a voter coalition

For the new Burnham government, this now means getting a grip on the issues that can provide short-term benefit for a public looking for support. Tangibly bringing down energy bills will continue to be a top priority for MPs and needs to be done in a way that demonstrates how Labour is easing the strains on costs for working families.

Whilst the Starmer Government implemented world-leading policies on climate and energy, powered by Ed Miliband in DESNZ, communications suffered from a lack of central narrative that brought together growth, industry, climate and living standards into a central vision that spoke to the public about delivery and hope. Ambitious DESNZ storytelling remained in the department and MPs were not provided with a national story of growth and renewal that would help them sell energy infrastructure and new developments to their constituents. The new government can learn lessons from the past and not fall into the trap of discrete policies announced without the shared vision and narrative to bind them all together.

This vision must also speak to the voters that Labour has lost since 2024, brutally highlighted by the local and devolved elections of 2026. In winning back these voters, it is important to remember there is no evidence that Labour-Reform switchers are moving their vote due to climate policies[11]. And while the Green Party has lessened its focus on environmental issues for wider issues of the left, polling shows that pro net-zero signalling helps Labour stem defections to its left, without costing it votes to the right. If communicated well and sensitively, climate is an effective dividing and attack line with both the populist right and left.

The result from the Makerfield by-election shows that Andy Burnham was able to win a carefully constructed coalition that united progressive voters while also stemming losses to the right by attracting “soft” 2024 Conservative voters – 8-10 per cent of whom are willing to vote for parties of the left and centre to keep out Reform and who voted for May and Johnson on strong climate manifestos.

This coalition now needs to be replicated across the country for future elections and for places like St Helens where labour councillors were almost wiped out in May to be replaced by a Reform council. Climate and environment can bring this coalition together but only if it is communicated effectively. While it remains important to talk about lower bills and energy security, and even more important for the government to deliver both, these are not the messages that shift underlying attitudes. Instead, Labour should lean into narratives that emphasise shared risk and shared responsibility, the impacts already being felt in local communities, the duty to future generations, and giving people ownership over their own lives.

Ambition through delivery

So what are the policies that should be included in the climate vision for the new government? As noted above, Burnham should avoid one-off policies that do not fit a clear central vision, but should be considering some of the below.

Get energy bills down in an electrified system

Energy bills remain the top issue for the majority of voters concerned with the cost of living. There are no cost-free solutions but the government has some levers that it can start to action almost immediately. These include: shifting further levies and policy costs (including future network costs) into general taxation; stronger action on monopoly operators through clawback mechanisms; market reforms to weaken further the price of gas link on the network such as bringing gas into a strategic reserve model. These technical policies can be implemented alongside continued support for the Clean Power mission which will have fundamental impacts on lowering bills both domestic and industrial from 2032 onwards by increasing electrification, increasing power usage, and delinking gas costs from our energy system once and for all.

On electrification, solar panels, heat pumps, electric vehicles, and now air conditioners, should not be viewed as standalone policies but elements of an electrified system combined with smart grids and storage to reduce demand peaks, lower system costs, and maximise the value of clean electricity. Government should combine incentives such as the Warm Homes Plan, local delivery programmes and financing models to ensure households see clear, cumulative benefits. Debates around expanding North Sea oil and gas risk distracting from the electrification of our system. Driving up domestic extraction would not shield the UK from global prices, and even if we were to drain every drop from the North Sea, we would still be a net importer of oil and gas. Much better to focus on the electrification policies that bring a range of benefits.

Fix the grid

One of the biggest blockers to a fully-realised electrified system in the UK are the bottlenecks of our power grid. We need a system that can connect renewable generation quickly and cheaply, unlocking future savings and avoiding costly system constraints. The government should accelerate specific, targeted grid upgrades in a few key areas – including Scotland and East Anglia – to make a significant impact in reducing grid constraints[12]. In East Anglia, for example, National Grid reports that the Norwich to Tilbury line will cost ~£900m but if accelerated by one year could save £2.8 billion in constraints cost in 2030 alone.

Restore nature and build the infrastructure we need

A more place-based approach to prosperity provides an opportunity to treat nature not simply as an environmental objective, but as essential infrastructure that supports thriving communities and resilient local economies. There is no question that the UK must accelerate the delivery of housing, energy and infrastructure. Environmental protections are rarely the primary barrier to this delivery, the problem being no single rule or institution, but a system that has become adversarial, fragmented and highly risk averse[13]. The Fingleton Review provided a useful model which, rather than seeking to pitch nature against development, recognised that many of the barriers to delivery lie in how institutions operate, and focussed instead on improving guidance for environmental regulations, rebuilding state capacity (ie. giving more public control), and changing institutional culture.

This approach could see nature acting as a selling point to local communities, helping to get local projects delivered through strategic, place-based approaches to improved green spaces and landscapes. Linked to this should be Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) used as a mechanism to ensure that development leaves places better than it found them.

A symbol of hope

The next three months will be an exciting time for politics as a new government with a whole new approach takes a hold of the levers of power. It has been extremely gratifying to see Andy Burnham set out his vision for a much more collaborative approach to government, with a political project that will speak to all parts of the country and all sections of our society.

Climate and environmental ambition should not just be part of such an approach but viewed as an asset that can talk to the left and right of the political spectrum, the working- and middle-class, every nation and region of our country.

To do this, Burnham’s government must ensure it is viewing the public’s values and attitudes to climate and environment with clarity. Back at the old pit site in St Helens, whilst the Dream is a fifty-times life-size replica of a normal girl, it is also elongated vertically by a third to give a skewed, often disconcerting, view when first seen amongst the forest. With her eyes closed, the girl has not watched the landscape that has drastically changed around her in the past decade but that is because, according to the locals, her closed eyes are a symbol of hope for what the future may bring.

[1] https://persuasionuk.org/research/apathy-and-opposition