Top economists urge Burnham to sign UK up to UN initiative on global inequality

Forty prominent progressive academics are urging Andy Burnham’s government to join a new global push to tackle inequality.The experts include Nobel winner Joseph Stiglitz, University College London professor Mariana Mazzucato, vice-chancellor of the London School of Economics Larry Kramer, and Kate Pickett, co-author of The Spirit Level.In an open letter, they call on Burnham to sign the UK up to help create a new International Panel on Inequality (IPI), which is being developed at the UN.“The organising principle of the prime minister’s policy agenda – the Makerfield test – aims to ensure that places forgotten by Westminster finally receive fairness after decades of neglect,” they say in the letter.“While these efforts are commendable, inequality is also a global issue, becoming more entrenched as the geopolitical climate destabilises.”They say the IPI will provide “an independent, trusted global evidence base on the causes and consequences of inequality, alongside analysis of the policies that can reduce it”.By backing it, they argue, Burnham could “cement the organising principles of his politics globally”.Charities, thinktanks and backbench MPs have been urging the new prime minister to seize on the UK’s turn to chair the G20 next year to reclaim Labour’s leadership on global development.The G20 is an economic policy forum that brings together leaders from global south countries such as China, India and Brazil, as well as the traditional G7 powers.“With the UK set to chair the G20 in 2027, Burnham now has a chance to demonstrate his leadership on the world stage,” the letter says.Echoing the approach of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the new body – to be chaired by Stiglitz – will track extreme wealth disparities and recommend global policy solutions. Brazil, South Africa, Norway and Spain have been involved in setting it up.The academics, led by Pickett, a professor at York University, urge Burnham to use his attendance at the UN general assembly next month to signal the UK’s strong support for the idea.They point to Burnham’s record on championing the issue of inequality as mayor of Greater Manchester – the role he held for nine years before becoming prime minister in July.Under Keir Starmer, Labour slashed aid spending to increase the defence budget, prompting the resignation of then development minister Anneliese Dodds.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe new foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, has signalled that he wants to make international development more central to Labour’s priorities – including by taking up the UK’s seat on the board of the World Bank himself.Some Labour MPs have been calling on their party to set out a long-term roadmap back to spending 0.7% of national income on overseas aid.That target was set by Gordon Brown under the last Labour government. It was temporarily ditched by Conservative chancellor Rishi Sunak during the Covid pandemic and, far from readopting it, Starmer made significant further cuts.Recent analysis of the impact of those cuts suggested bilateral aid to some African countries had been cut by 90% as a result.Stiglitz previously chaired a commission for the Vatican on debt levels in developing countries, recommending a range of policies including outright debt relief for the hardest hit, and new legislation, including in the UK, to curtail the rights of “vulture funds”.Responding to the academics’ letter, Stewart Wood, the Foreign Office minister for growth, said: “Changing the way our economy works so that it is fairer and more productive is not just about what we do at home. It also requires that we work in partnership with other countries and international institutions to strengthen the global economy.“That’s why this government will work with allies to build the coalition we need for economic change – to boost global growth, combat inequality, make our international financial institutions more effective, and back more coordinated development support and climate action.”