If Andy Burnham wants a ten-year strategy that’s both worthy of the moment and able to stand the test of time, it should start with the truth that Britain will not be rebuilt by Whitehall alone. Labour’s task now is to move participation in societal change from the margins to the mainstream, and from the capital to every corner of the nation. The next decade must genuinely and meaningfully involve people, communities, public and private institutions in shaping decisions and working together, locally and nationally.

There’s a serious challenge here for Burnham – and it will come as no surprise to him: participation on this epic scale is unlikely to be the easiest, quickest or most comfortable route. It requires radical co-creation across sectors and boundaries. It demands a new relationship between people, communities, the state, and businesses. It requires investment. But the cost of getting it wrong – and of continuing to ‘consult’ or use communities simply as a ‘sounding board’ without a real stake in decisions – is much higher. Our new PM’s credentials are built on crossing boundaries to further civic ambition, which has delivered innovative approaches and produced tangible benefits for Manchester. That’s tougher to achieve on a national scale. But the government must be bold and brave if it is going to rebuild trust in politics and deliver the ‘change’ promised in its manifesto (distant as that memory may seem).  

Back then, in July 2024, The Young Foundation set out a policy position, calling on Starmer’s new government to rewrite the rulebook, reviving national trust, hope and ambition. This plea is as relevant as ever. But today, Burnham must lead a politics that goes beyond simply delivering more to creating the conditions in which everyone across the UK can contribute meaningfully. We have a few ideas about how that can be achieved.

Five steps to reset our politics

First, Burnham should put communities and civil society at the heart of policymaking, making participation a democratic infrastructure, not a pilot project. Every area – from health to housing, skills to climate – should draw on evidence from citizen panels, community researchers, and local deliberative assemblies at all stages. People with lived experience should, with support, help define the problems we face, test the policy, and judge whether it works. This would improve decisions and rebuild trust, the (increasingly) scarce resource on which every government depends.

Second, frame community resilience on a par with national security. Recent and ongoing shocks – the pandemic, cost-of-living, climate crisis, and more – have shown that resilience lives locally. A ten-year strategy should create a Community Resilience Fund for neighbourhood-level preparedness: warm spaces that become crisis hubs; local food and energy cooperatives; trusted health champions; repair and reuse networks; flood response volunteers; and digital inclusion programmes so no one is locked out of support when systems move online. We know this works. Communities have shown time and again how practical volunteering can strengthen social ties, improve wellbeing and prepare neighbourhoods for future shocks.

Third, strengthen connections between communities and businesses, research and innovation, building clearer links between academia, local government and local people. This will uncover deeper insights into root social causes of national and local challenges, and help develop workable solutions.

Fourth, put AI to work for social good, under democratic control. The government should establish public-interest AI labs in every region, pairing technologists with communities, frontline workers, and social innovators. Their brief should be practical: predict damp and mould risks before children get ill; help advice services triage debt and benefits cases; map loneliness and connect people to local support; speed up a fair transition to home retrofit and flood preparedness for all; and reduce the administrative burden crushing public servants. But the rule must be clear: AI should amplify human judgment, not replace human accountability.

Fifth, shift power and money to places around the UK. Devolution should not stop at metro mayors or town halls. Communities need flexible, long-term funding they can shape themselves, with lighter reporting and stronger shared learning. The test will be whether people feel greater agency over their lives: better prospects, greener places, stronger relationships, more influence over the systems that affect them. And the incentives should be simple: a Participation Premium for programmes shaped by communities; a Community Match Fund for local fundraising; Resilience Grants for floods, heat, health and cost shocks; AI for Good prizes for tools built with communities; long-term core funding for proven anchor organisations; and a Civic Skills Guarantee for training in data, governance and organising.

Building trust and hope across the UK

Finally, as our new Prime Minister takes the keys to Number 10 (whether or not he chooses to call it home), Burnham should make his new strategy measurable in human terms alongside GDP and growth. That means tracking trust, belonging, mutual aid, local participation, mental wellbeing, household security, and readiness for climate and health shocks. These are not soft indicators, they are the foundations of a country that can adapt.

Today, Burnham said he intends to govern differently. At The Young Foundation, we think that means enabling a decade of participation: people-powered, tech-enabled, locally rooted, and resilient for whatever comes next. Our call to action is clear: put communities in the room where change is discussed and designed. Give people the tools, data, funding and trust to shape the spaces, places, opportunities and futures they want. And make Britain’s promise for the 2030s unmistakable. Not a government for the people, but renewal with the people.

Participation is the missing ingredient – and by centring it, Burnham’s ten-year strategy might just “make this the moment when Britain starts to believe again. The moment we bring back hope”.

Picture credit: Nigel Harris

Community needs and priorities Systems change Posted on: 20 July 2026 Authors: Sue Griffiths, Jessica Moore, Daniel Farag,