Burnham said restoring public control over key services would lower long-term costs for the state while past deregulation, privatisation, austerity and Brexit had weakened control over public finances

International News via Reuters:

Andy Burnham, a prominent figure in Britain’s governing Labour Party and leadership rival to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said on Tuesday his vision for the economy should reassure bond investors.

Burnham, who is mayor of the major northern English city of Manchester, said restoring public control over key services would lower long-term costs for the state while past deregulation, privatisation, austerity and Brexit had weakened control over public finances.

Speaking to Reuters after a speech at the Institute of Fiscal Studies think tank in London, he said Britain was stuck in a low-growth trap and needed reforms that he billed as “Manchesterism”.

Investment in housing and utilities could reduce government waste and boost economic growth if combined with the kind of collaborative, long-term planning that has served Manchester’s economy well, he said.

“That is the way to reassure markets.”

He said welfare benefits disappearing into private rents instead of social housing, as well as soaring bills charged by private utility companies, were examples of where the state could lower costs to the wider economy.

With Labour trailing in opinion polls, investors are focused on Starmer’s future before local elections in May, as well as on the fiscal discipline championed by finance minister Rachel Reeves.

Consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics said the market was underpricing the risk of a change in Downing Street and a government under Burnham would probably run looser budgets.

Burnham, 56, mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017, was in Gordon Brown’s 2007-10 Labour government and has twice stood for the party leadership.

He has had a sometimes strained relationship with the Starmer government and in September set out his pitch for economic reform at Labour’s annual conference, taken by some lawmakers as a leadership campaign launch – something Burnham denied.

Burnham said comments made that month – when he said “we’ve got to get beyond this thing of being in hock to the bond market,” drawing scrutiny from media and investors – were misinterpreted as meaning the market should be ignored.

“I wasn’t saying that. I was saying that the system doesn’t work for (investors) either,” Burnham said, citing a short-termist culture in London’s Westminster government district.

Asked about the risk from escalating tensions between the United States and its historic allies, Burnham said Manchester would go its own way and push investment in green tech and skills.

“If the U.S. is pulling back from certain things, I think if you hold your ground and say – no, we’re going to carry on – the economic opportunity becomes bigger,” he said.

Reporting by Andy Bruce; editing by Mark Heinrich

The company started preparations for the telco spin-off early last year after clearing all regulatory approvals for a $19 billion tie-up of its UK assets with Vodafone, Reuters reported at the time

International News via Reuters:

Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings is weighing listing its global telecommunications business in London and Hong Kong as early as the third quarter after spinning it off from the group, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The company started preparations for the telco spin-off early last year after clearing all regulatory approvals for a $19 billion tie-up of its UK assets with Vodafone, Reuters reported at the time.

CK Hutchison, founded by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, is eyeing London as a primary listing venue and Hong Kong as a secondary venue for its telecoms businesses in Europe, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia that could be valued at around $20 billion, said the people.

CK Hutchison declined to comment.

The telco unit would be on the fast track to be included in London’s FTSE100 index, said one of the people.  

However, a potential deal the company has also been exploring to merge its Italian telecom unit Wind Tre with the Italian operations of French telecoms group Iliad, reported by Reuters in October, could pause the spin-off, a third and fourth person said.

There are different views within the company about what direction to take, they said, with the third person adding that a decision could be made in the coming weeks. 

Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank are working with CK Hutchison on the spin-off listing, two of the sources said, cautioning however that plans are still fluid and the listing time could change. 

The four sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is private. 

Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Citi also declined to comment.  

CK Hutchison has been focusing on enhancing the group’s returns. Last year it announced a deal to sell most of its global ports business, including assets near the Panama Canal, for an equity value of $22.8 billion to a BlackRock-led consortium.

The sale however has been progressing slowly due to complex regulatory clearance and China’s request to include a Chinese investor in the buyer group.

Reporting by Kane Wu in Hong Kong, Hadeel Al Sayegh in Dubai, and Amy-Jo Crowley in London and Elvira Pollina in Milan. Editing by Anousha Sakoui and Jan Harvey