Potholes to noisy phones: Thinking small gives UK’s Burnham some early wins

London | Nov. 13, 2026, 5:00 a.m. ET | 4 min read Britain’s new prime minister talked big on his way into No. 10 Downing St., promising nothing less than an overhaul of four decades of national political and economic policy.But in his first 100 days, Andy Burnham has been doing something very different.He’s been thinking small. He’s been talking less about fixing Britain’s sluggish economy than about filling the potholes on its roads. The reason he’s taken that approach has implications for other Western democracies where, as in Britain, many voters have lost trust in government institutions and mainstream parties, and have been gravitating toward populist politicians on the political extremes.Countries like France and Germany in Europe.And the United States, too, where last week’s midterm elections have presented new Democratic majorities in Congress with “first 100 days” policy choices of their own. Mr. Burnham made his “think small” strategy clear from Day 1.Speaking outside Downing Street in July, he issued his first “instruction” as prime minister: “to end rough sleeping in our country.” Or, in American English, to provide the support necessary to put a roof over the heads of homeless people sleeping on city streets.The aim of this and a raft of similar announcements has been to reconnect the national government with the day-to-day concerns, and aggravations, of voters. To demonstrate that they had been seen and heard, and that their prime minister was on their side.There’s also a broader political calculation: that by restoring a grassroots sense that the government is listening, and getting things done, Mr. Burnham can gain the credibility, trust, and breathing space he’ll need in order to tackle any of his bigger policy goals.Some of those might prove controversial. All will be complex. And all will take time. Carlos Jasso/ReutersBritish Prime Minister Andy Burnham speaks as he hosts a "Rough Sleeping Summit" in Downing Street in central London, Oct. 26, 2026. It’s not just homelessness that has figured on the “think small” agenda. Mr. Burnham has weighed in on a range of other issues designed to drive home his message: online subscriptions auto-renewing without your knowing it, commuters playing mobile-phone videos at top volume on trains and subways, unscrupulous private companies wheel-clamping parked cars in order to extract recovery fees, and airlines surcharging families who want to sit together.He has also taken small steps to ease cost-of-living woes, including an easing of home energy bills; price cuts on some grocery items; and a £2, or roughly $2.65, cap on bus fares.And potholes. Last month, he announced that by the end of this year, about 7,000 miles of Britain’s roads will have been resurfaced.So far, thinking small seems to be paying dividends.Mr. Burnham won the top job not through a national election, but as a result of an internal move by his Labour Party to unseat Keir Starmer, who had won a huge majority in Parliament two years earlier.So while he inherited that majority, Labour was languishing in the opinion polls. His arrival led to a recovery, a “Burnham bounce” that his early months of “think small” government have largely sustained.Though his own approval rating has dropped back since reaching +13 in his first few weeks, the latest survey still put Mr. Burnham at +4 – the only national figure with a positive rating.Still, he knows that succeeding as prime minister will depend on how he tackles the big issues that Britain faces – questions a lot tougher, and a lot more expensive, than filling in the potholes.He has already singled out some of them. They include a huge shortage in housing, a lack of affordable eldercare, woefully poor service from some of the utilities privatized under Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher back in the 1980s, and Britain’s future relationship with the European Union.He has also ventured some bold proposals: a totally revamped eldercare system, greater public control over the utilities, and even a potential reentry into the EU.But he’s made it clear those are much longer-term decisions. All will likely form part of a “10-year plan for Britain” that is being drafted in Downing Street for publication in the new year. And that venture, in itself, is bold: It presupposes that Mr. Burnham can lead Labour to another victory in Britain’s next election, due to be held by August 2029.Bold, too, is his apparent assumption that he can convincingly leave the resolving of some of the toughest issues, like Brexit, until after he’s secured a new Labour mandate from voters.Even some Labour supporters aren’t so sure about that. And one early test could come with the publication next week of a major report concerning the nearly 1 million British young people who are now known as NEETs: not in education, employment, or training. 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Any effective response to that problem, the report’s author has said, will require billions of pounds of additional yearly government spending, while inaction would deepen a problem that is blighting young lives and causing wider social and economic harm.In deciding how quickly to act on the report, Mr. Burnham will face a political challenge that might soon confront Democrats in the U.S. Congress: balancing the imperative to respond to voters’ concerns by providing early, visible signs of change, with a need to sustain support by getting a handle on bigger and tougher issues of national government. ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? LoginReal news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.The Christian Science Monitor was founded in 1908 to lift the standard of journalism and uplift humanity. We aim to “speak the truth in love.” Our goal is not to tell you what to think, but to give you the essential knowledge and understanding to come to your own intelligent conclusions. 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