For business and households alike, it signals a sharp break from the more liberal consensus that has dominated Westminster since then. At the heart of the project is a fundamental re-balancing of who controls the basics of modern life - energy, water, transport and housing. Burnham argues that Margaret Thatcher’s drive to privatise utilities and deregulate markets surrendered control of the essentials and left consumers exposed to high costs, fragile services and yawning regional inequalities. It also suggests a bigger fiscal state, with the prospect of higher tax take and more direct economic management from Downing Street. The economic risk is that an interventionist model collides with global competition, deters investment or simply fails to deliver better services.