In his first remarks as the UK’s new leader, Merseyside-born Andy Burnham made a bold promise to build a new political model. He did not shy away from critiques of the neoliberalism that has gripped Britain since the 1980s—highlighting the “wrong turns” of privatisation and nationwide deindustrialisation.
Through the organising principle of his politics—the “Makerfield Test”—Burnham has pledged to give citizens more control over their economy. As longstanding critics of the neoliberal model, we could not agree more with his vision, which chimes with the increasing consensus that neoliberalism has driven the inequality crisis across the globe.
The extremes of inequality we see today are rapidly multiplying threats to our economies, societies and democracies. In fact, the most unequal countries are now seven times more likely to experience democratic erosion, as the gap between the richest and poorest has simply grown too big.
Without international action, the pattern is only set to get worse. And so, at last year’s G20, a proposal designed to meet the scale of the crisis was born: an International Panel on Inequality (IPI).
Much like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), this initiative would serve as the world’s scientific authority on inequality, bridging crucial policy gaps and bringing together experts from diverse disciplines to assess and communicate research, so that a shared, scientific consensus on inequality and its drivers and consequences can finally be established.
Burnham has correctly identified that the UK’s stark regional divides have driven many towards extreme politics in areas that have been left behind by neoliberalism. In communities that have been ignored, research identifies symptoms that we can all recognise today: a deep mistrust of politics, the blaming of immigrant communities for societal problems and a distinct lack of belief that society can ever work for normal people.
As a solution, Burnham appears to be lightly rejecting the “growth at all costs” narrative that has dominated the UK’s economic discourse. He knows that as private wealth has boomed while public wealth has shrunk, inequalities in health, education, housing and social protection have been reinforced up and down the country.
So far, the prime minister seems to understand that it is the quality and direction of growth that matters. The UK needs growth that is focused sharply on distribution and inequality reduction and that can actually serve to tackle the cost–of-living crisis. But while Burnham is talking about the UK, his outlook needs to address inequality globally.
Recent data on growing international wealth inequality is striking. Almost no one questions that only a small fraction of all the wealth generated since 2000—some estimates are as little as 1 per cent—has reached the poorest half of humanity, while a hugely disproportionate share—similar estimates have it as more than 40 percent—has gone to the richest 1 per cent worldwide.
But there is still hope—and Burnham seems to recognise this. The inequality we see today is the cumulative result of choices made by governments around the world over decades. But inequality is a policy choice, and its extremes can be reversed.
To do this, we will need politicians to contribute to a different set of rules nationally and internationally. It will require deep knowledge of the drivers of inequality, how it plays out in real lives and the vast array of potential solutions to address it.
That is where an International Panel on Inequality steps in. Much like the IPCC was needed to establish a scientific consensus on our changing planet, an IPI would make its expertise available to governments, multilateral institutions, civil society, the private sector, the media and ordinary citizens worldwide.
The details of the IPI are now in the process of being developed by the governments of South Africa, Brazil, Norway and Spain, working with the group of inequality experts that made the proposal to the G20. It is envisaged that the International Panel on Inequality would see some 40 leading inequality experts operate with full academic freedom to advance our knowledge in this arena and to construct a scientific consensus surrounding it.
The idea has now garnered enormous support from academics and governments around the world, and from the UN secretary-general, Ahead of the UN General Assembly this September, Burnham must champion this cause, contributing the UK’s ideas on how this might best be done.
While the UK has reduced its aid budget in recent years, rumours are swirling that Burnham is set to course correct—signalling that he could re-adopt an approach that restores the UK’s efforts to tackle global poverty. An IPI could also assist the UK government with how to address the discontent that has led the nation to its current levels of division, working closely with the country’s esteemed academic institutions and demonstrating best practice in international economic cooperation.
In his resounding victory in the Makerfield byelection, Burnham stated, “if it does not work for Makerfield—it does not work.” As the UK gears up to take over the G20, we urge him to go one step further and bring Burnhamism, his vision for a new economic model, to the world stage.
