Andy Burnham set out his Burnham triple helix growth plan in his first address to the House of Commons as Prime Minister, placing the government at the centre of a framework that ties together universities, businesses and the state to drive economic development across the UK.
The model Burnham reached for is not new. The triple helix framework was developed by economic theorists Henry Etzkowitz and Loet Leydesdorff, with Really Good Innovation dating its formal publication to 1997. According to RealKM, it originated with the paper ‘The Triple Helix, University-Industry-Government Relations: A Laboratory for Knowledge-Based Economic Development’, which set out how sustained interaction between these three spheres could generate knowledge-based economic growth. In practice, RealKM notes, the model has given rise to intermediary institutions such as technology transfer offices and science parks, designed to bridge the gap between academic research and commercial application.
Burnham’s use of the framework places him in a tradition of policymakers who have looked to academia for economic architecture. Whether the concept translates from theory to Whitehall practice is now the central question his government faces.
Government as the third strand of the Burnham triple helix growth plan
‘My theory of growth requires it to be driven with the full authority of the very centre of government, in close partnership with His Majesty’s Treasury,’ Burnham told MPs. He said a new unit, ‘Number 10 North’, had been set up with ‘that full focus’. Devolution, he argued, provided a ‘clear answer to the question with which this country has long wrestled’ on who should drive growth, and the triple helix approach would ‘build a pro-business culture and an innovation-led economy in all parts of the UK.’
Burnham offered a broad diagnosis of Britain’s economic condition, telling the Commons that some parts of the country had been ‘drifting’ for 40 years and attributing that to a ‘failed economic model which does not trickle down’. His experience as the former Manchester mayor, he said, gave him credibility to push for ‘public control’ over services including transport and water. On water privatisation specifically, he said it ‘stands as a leaking monument to that approach, a country run in the private rather than public interest.’ A place-first rather than party-first approach, he said, would underpin the government’s work, with baseline ambitions including ending rough sleeping and eliminating illegal waste sites.
Tax questions deflected, business pressure builds
The first parliamentary session was not all economic theory. Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch pressed Burnham on whether he would rule out tax rises, a question he declined to answer directly. Burnham pointed instead to two tax reductions he said had already been delivered: a 20 per cent cut in business rates for pubs and music venues, and the removal of VAT from household energy bills.
The exchange came as pressure from business continued to build. Bosses at retailers including Tesco and M&S are among industry leaders calling on Burnham and Chancellor John Healey not to target businesses with further tax increases. Whether that lobby carries weight will become clearer when the government sets out its fiscal plans in detail.
Badenoch, in her first outing as Prime Minister’s Questions opponent, accused Burnham of being fixated on Margaret Thatcher, ‘a woman who became Prime Minister before I was born.’ ‘He is living in the past and wants to take us back to the 1970s,’ she said. ‘On this side of the house, we are for the future.’
Burnham used the session to pay tribute to his predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, who announced his resignation earlier on Tuesday, as having ‘given this country a lifetime of public service.’ A portion of the session also addressed Ukraine, with Burnham acknowledging his Conservative predecessors for their support of the country against Russian aggression.
The UK Government has not yet set a date for the formal publication of the growth strategy that will flesh out the triple helix framework in policy terms.
