Burnham tells summer school participants their generation will ‘put right the chaos in politics’

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, talking to some of the Working for Your Community Summer School participants

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has made a guest appearance at MP Debbie Abrahams' eighth Working for Your Community Summer School.

He told the 18-24 year old participants: “I have more trust in your generation than any other generation that’s gone before to put right the chaos in politics brought about by my generation.

“My generation of politicians has brought us to this place where we’re very polarised, very unequal, very unhappy.

"Genuinely, I believe your generation of politicians will come through and will heal this mess that we’ve lived through.”

Ali Raza, one of the summer school participants, from Glodwick, and a student at Oldham College studying Business Enterprise, said: “Today’s session with Andy Burnham was really exciting, and in-depth, helping me learn about how to work in your own community, and was an interesting insight into the world of politics.

“Andy came across as a humble person who wants to help people, especially us as young people and students, and help us decide what we want to do in our careers.”

Mr Burnham also praised the summer school concept first launched by Ms Abrahams, the MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, in 2014, saying: “It’s an amazing thing Debbie does running this summer school each year.

“I regularly come into contact with people who say to me 'oh you might remember me, I was on Debbie Abrahams’ summer school!'

“It’s brilliant, and I love it, and I’ll always support it because it’s an amazing thing to do and it will bring through the next generation of leaders.”

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