Clive Lewis insists local power only way to fix failure of rules-based world

Labour MP Clive Lewis argued on X that addressing the international breakdown in rules-based order requires ordinary people holding local power. Touting Andy Burnham’s success in Manchester to prove his point, Lewis insists the most effective way to limit the exploitative practices of the most powerful is through ‘democratic control of essential systems’

Once again, Lewis is right. When the public bears the consequences of irresponsible leadership, they deserve a meaningful role in the decisions that shape their local communities.

Bang on.

The assumption of a stable, cheap, rules-based world is over.

The answer isn’t tweaks or workarounds.

It’s democratic control of essential systems.
Local power. Costs driven down at source, not endlessly patched over.

Public control where it actually matters. pic.twitter.com/6WMixme4n5

— Clive Lewis MP (@labourlewis) January 22, 2026

Clive Lewis: devolve power, don’t bow to it

2026 has seen international crisis after crisis. Whether it’s conflict in Europe or with the US working hard to perpetuate eternal wars. Citizens in their home countries are left facing the fall out of a global diplomatic system that has been shown to be built on sand. Lives are so profoundly affected by decisions made by self-interested, egotistical leaders pursuing their own political agendas. Therefore, the need for public power in politics has arguably never been greater.

Lewis’ plea came in response to an article put out by Andy Burnham in the Guardian, in which Burnham celebrated Manchester becoming the ‘fastest-growing city-region economy’. Burnham argues that local government is perfectly capable of deploying public funds effectively to the areas that need it most. This autonomy, Burnham asserts, has led to a reduction in crisis spending.

Today Greater Manchester has raised the bar on growth – again!

We have laid out our plan to re-industrialise the city-region over the next decade based around five global clusters.

Read my speech here.👇🏻https://t.co/dGcB4sY2dM

— Andy Burnham (@AndyBurnhamGM) January 20, 2026

Lewis clearly believes this is just the ticket to finally prove that local governments deserve power and autonomy in the decisions that affect local communities. That must mean democratic public ownership of essential services like transport, energy, water and healthcare.

Your Party & Grassroots Left

Lewis isn’t the only socialist MP calling for public ownership.

Your Party MP Zarah Sultana is committed to ensuring political power is in the hands of communities, fighting for public ownership of all services including democratising the UK economy:

Zarah Sultana says we should "nationalise the entire economy."

I asked her what meant in practise. pic.twitter.com/gtAhZ9Wu5k

— Owen Jones (@owenjonesjourno) December 1, 2025

And, an announcement from Labour health minister Steve Kinnock shows just how out of touch the centralised Westminster political system has become. s

Kinnock announced the apparently novel practice of targeting NHS training drives in areas that actually need healthcare workers. As opposed to urban areas where they have more places than they actually have employment opportunities. It seems pretty self-evident that this should always have been the basis for how resources and funding are allocated.

Kinnock says that forcing all trusts to follow the same rules around technology is needed to start ending the post code lottery of care in the NHS.

So why aren't you scrapping trusts entirely and returning the whole NHS to being an integrated national health service? pic.twitter.com/OecYUv3XBb

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) January 23, 2026

Proof is in the pudding

For decades, negligent, corruptible politicians have sold us off on the cheap to their mates. Government contracts are sold off to cronies for maximum profits at the expense of the people who actually pay MP’s wages. It is no coincidence that neoliberal politics have led to an absolute breakdown of society. Inequality is soaring, wages continually stagnating whilst billionaires’ profits soar like never before.

People have had no actual bargaining power in our domestic politics, yet we hold the highest stake. Life expectancy, social mobility, and individual opportunities all suffer from the decisions made at the top of the chain. With the right-wing media carefully cajoling people’s perspectives around elections, the richest minority have been able to laugh whilst they play our democracy like a puppet show.

As Clive Lewis argued, meaningful change to this power imbalance will occur only if the public actively claims power over the institutions, services, and businesses that have consistently failed to serve its interests. We must only back politicians that actually want real change.

Featured image via the Canary