"...as Andy Burnham says 'unelected state' is hindering growth"
Daily Mail: 13th January 2026: A report featured on the newspaper's website highlighting that at least some parts of the Labour Party are waking up to the excessive power of 'the Blob'.
"Two of the frontrunners to replace Keir Starmer went to war over the power of the blob today... Wes Streeting mounted a furious defence of civil servants against Labour critics - including the PM - who have accused them of frustrating government attempts to improve Britain...
...He used a speech at the Institute for Government (IfG) conference to warn that the attacks risked harming the party yet further because it suggested it was impotent to change anything...
...speaking at the same event, Mr Burnham, the former minister turned Greater Manchester mayor, lashed out at the 'unelected state', saying it was hindering growth and the devolution of power to the regions...
Mr Streeting's pointed attack came after Paul Ovenden, a former adviser to the PM, decried 'the gradual but decisive shift of politics and power away from voters'...
...And late last year [Keir Starmer] spoke of 'frustration that every time I go to pull a lever, there are a whole bunch of regulations, consultations and arm's length bodies that mean the action from pulling the lever to delivery is longer than I think it ought to be'...