🚨 CALL TO ACTION: Use Andy Burnham’s own words.
With Andy Burnham fresh from his parliamentary return and poised to enter Downing Street as our next Prime Minister, his team is incredibly hyper-sensitive about his political brand. He has spent the last month promising a radical shake-up of Westminster to give power back to the regions.
This is our strategic window of opportunity. We are going to hold him to his own exact words. We need every resident to flood his inbox this week with personalized, tailored messages that back him into a political corner.
🎯 The Strategy: The "Manchesterism" Trap
In his recent state-of-the-nation address, Burnham unveiled his core governing philosophy, which he calls "Manchesterism." He explicitly declared to the country: "The days of Whitehall fighting the devolution of power into the regions and nations are over for good." He also promised to establish a "No. 10 North" to ensure that central government never again ignores regional economic strategies. Meanwhile, our own York and North Yorkshire Metro Mayor, David Skaith, has earmarked RAF Linton-on-Ouse as a prime candidate for a housing-led Mayoral Development Zone (MDZ).
Our angle of attack is simple: If Burnham’s incoming administration allows the Home Office to steamroll our local Combined Authority and seize this land, his entire platform of "rewiring Britain" is exposed as empty rhetoric. We are going to politely, sharply point out this contradiction.
📝 Pick Your "Angle of Attack" (Key Points to Include)
Do not copy and paste this entire list. Instead, pick two or three of the points below that resonate with you, and write them in your own words. Where possible, use his quotes!!
1. The "Good Growth in Every Postcode" Promise
Burnham's Rhetoric: He has repeatedly pledged to deliver "good growth in every postcode and hope in every heart."
Your Argument: Ask him how wiping out North Yorkshire's premier rural development asset in the Linton Postcode fits that promise. Forcing an isolated mass camp onto a village of 700 people eliminates any hope of sustainable economic growth or community investment in the short, medium and long term. Highlight how since the announcement, we have seen instant regression. House sales fallen through. School places cancelled. Houses sat empty. New developments already underway now at risk. Is that really how he wants his reign to begin? Is that his vision for growth?
2. The "Housing First" Contradiction
Burnham's Rhetoric: Burnham is a fierce national champion of a "Housing First" approach, arguing that people need permanent, secure, and dignified housing rather than temporary emergency warehousing.
Your Argument: Point out the glaring hypocrisy of his Home Office locking up prime land to build an institutionalized, high-density, isolated asylum centre. Our local Mayor wants this site for permanent, affordable rural housing—the exact solution Burnham claims to champion.
3. The Health Legacy (NHS Overload)
Burnham's Rhetoric: As a former Secretary of State for Health, Burnham is fiercely protective of local NHS capacity and health equity.
Your Argument: Appeal directly to his healthcare roots. Explain that Linton-on-Ouse is a medical desert with no local hospital and entirely overstretched GP surgeries. Dropping 1,200 individuals with complex physical and mental health needs into an isolated rural area with minimal public transport is a massive clinical risk that will break our local primary care infrastructure.
4. Corporate Blank Checks vs. Community Wealth
Burnham's Rhetoric: Burnham heavily opposes the outsourcing of public services to multi-billion-pound private entities, famously fighting to bring public services back under local, accountable control.
Your Argument: Remind him that the Home Office is handing a massive, multi-million-pound blank check to private outsourcing giant Serco to run this camp. Ask him why his government is enrichment-funding private security contractors instead of letting our local Combined Authority partner with regional builders and community trusts to regenerate the base. Remind him of the site costs already wasted in 2022 and the multi million pound compensation already awarded to Serco last time.
5. Cost-Shifting to "On the Brink" Councils
Burnham's Rhetoric: He has frequently warned that starved budgets have left local councils "on the brink of viability."
Your Argument: While the Home Office covers the initial setup, the daily operational strains—policing, community safety, fire services, and social care—fall directly on North Yorkshire's overstretched public purse. Our Deputy Mayor for Policing, Jo Coles, has already warned that local services cannot absorb this strain.
📮 How to Take Action Right Now
Please take 10 minutes out of your day to draft and send your email or letter.
If via email
Send To: andy.burnham.mp@parliament.uk
CC: David Skaith: mayor@yorknorthyorks-ca.gov.uk
If via letter
Andy Burnham, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Watch this space over the next week or two. There will be more call to actions posted and we need maximum take up to optimise the impact and effect.