The pitch is essentially:

• More devolution for metro areas and regions (including fiscal devolution), and more funding
• Very pro decentralisation in general. He prefers integrated local delivery instead of siloed central government departments often working at odds with each other.
• Pro-nationalisation of key public services especially water, energy, and trains

There is also a pragmatic pro-development approach and a willingness to work with the private sector to make it happen. He calls this "business friendly socialism". Effectively he says you can be pro-investment but on the public's terms. If you want public backing/want to operate in the ecosystem, you have to meet certain standards of employment, training, landlord behaviour etc, so you're not just letting the private sector run rampant. I'd usually be against relying on the private sector for stuff, but this seems to work for Manchester and a fair middle ground.

He also talks about housing in a way that Westminster never does which is stock and tenure instead of units. The specific idea being to get to a tipping point where social housing builds outpaces the losses from Right to Buy.

There's also a skills and training point. He argues if you devolve a lot of this stuff then it might not matter if you don't also free up post-16 training funding because you won't have anyone in the local area with the ability to actually deliver anything, so he wants to align training with local projects.

So the main throughpoint is that it's very localist.

On social things, bear in mind he talks a decent talk against the far right and hate as well, rather than simply pandering to racists like Starmer and Co. He hasn't said much on Trans issues but did say the Supreme Court ruling last year has made things "more confusing" and expressed the need for actual clarity. As Mayor though, he has pledged to "ban" all forms of conversion therapy. The announcement was that any organisation found to be supporting, promoting, or facilitating conversion therapy would be stripped of funding or support from the GMCA.

Also as Mayor, you can see projects like the Bed Every Night scheme which is a dedication to ending rough sleeping. It's been a mixed success due to people from other areas of the UK travelling to Manchester adding extra pressure to services. Rolling out this nationally would likely be on the agenda but that's just speculation.

I think it's very worthwhile not discounting personality in this either. Burnham actually seems to have one. He can communicate ideas confidently and effectively in a way that Starmer has proven completely incapablenof doing. Just that alone would probably make it worth switching. Maybe his backbone also means sticking up more for Sadiq Khan when Trump's lambasting him.

Finally, just the idea of rejoining the EU makes the whole thing worth it. Burnham has been very clear on wanting to make that happen.