EARC’s response to Andy Burnham’s first policy speech

Eastern Arc (EARC) welcomes the broad proposals and aspirations set out in Andy Burnham’s speech on 29 June 2026, which provided a vision that echoes and confirms our strategy of regional collaboration and hope that has been at the heart of our consortium since it was established over a decade ago.

In particular, EARC welcomed four elements of Burnham’s speech:

• ‘Placing our universities at the heart of local economies.’ Two years ago we published a seminal report looking forward to devolution and the critical role that universities must play in this. It recognised the significant opportunities for higher education to contribute to regional growth and development, and the part that regional consortia can play in making this happen, offering a collective voice, fostering strategic partnerships, and enhancing collaboration. However it also recognised the challenges: financial constraints, capacity challenges, and organisational cultural differences. Whilst we welcome Burnham’s proposal, we need to also recognise that these challenges remain, and hope that his administration will support universities to fulfil their essential role within their local economies.
• Recognising the opportunity for London and the Southeast in the devolution agenda. All too often in the national narrative, London and the Southeast is seen as an area of prosperity and productivity that does not need the same level of support as elsewhere in the country. Eastern Arc has long advocated for the Government to have a more nuanced and granular understanding of regionality, as many areas within the East and Southeast have higher indices of deprivation than those in other parts of the country. Therefore Burnham’s suggestion that devolution will be for the benefit of everyone, regardless of broad regional geographies, is welcomed.
• Providing ‘powers for our proud coastal towns to reimagine themselves for the twenty first century.’ Our Strategy 2025-30 has the coast as one of our key focus areas, and we are pleased that Burnham has explicitly recognised the significant challenges they face. We have already been working to address these, convening stakeholders to address the recommendations set out in Chris Whitty’s report of 2021, and leading a £3m project to develop resilience in our coastal communities. We hope that the new administration’s focus will lead to a step change in addressing the intractable problems of our coast to ensure that they enjoy ‘the same living conditions in all parts of Britain’.
• Finally, encouraging ‘more cross-UK partnerships between places with complementary industrial clusters’ will allow regions to have significant agency in identifying and supporting its specific strengths, rather than having to respond to priorities set centrally. As universities at the heart of our region we understand and already work with the networks of talent that support them; giving us the freedom to nurture these is a huge step forward.

Burnham’s vision is a positive first step, but we recognise that there is some distance still to run, and much detail still to be revealed. We look forward to this, and to working collaboratively within our regions to build, in Burnham’s words, ‘agency, possibility and hope.’

Image attribution: Scottish Government, via Wikimedia Commons