{"id":615,"date":"2026-07-08T07:27:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T07:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=615"},"modified":"2026-07-08T07:27:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T07:27:22","slug":"fitness-sector-cautiously-optimistic-as-andy-burnham-aims-to-be-pm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=615","title":{"rendered":"Fitness sector cautiously optimistic as Andy Burnham aims to be PM"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fitness<\/div>

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By Kath Hudson \u00a0\u00a0 22 Jun 2026<\/div>\n
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With Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, announcing his resignation this morning and Andy Burnham as a possible successor, the fitness, health and wellness sector is evaluating its position.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burnham understands the importance of physical activity and has been a strong advocate, so is this what the sector is waiting for?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an interview with HCM<\/em>\u2019s sister publication, Sports Management<\/a>, before the pandemic\u00a0 Burnham \u2013 as Mayor of Manchester \u2013 spoke about physical activity being a passion for him and his goal to get 75 per cent of people in Manchester physically activity by 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He used his devolved power in Manchester to pivot GPs from a medical model to a social model, expanding their role to treat isolation and physical inactivity as aggressively as clinical symptoms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under the Active Practices Charter, GP surgeries across Greater Manchester partnered with local leisure trusts to encourage GPs to connect patients with walking groups and local fitness sessions.<\/p>\n

He also championed Parkrun and the Daily Mile in schools.<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Sport England Active Lives data, 76.4 per cent of adults in Manchester exercise for at least 30 minutes a week, with 66.3 per cent meeting the WHO guidelines of 150 minutes. The smoking rate is also relatively low at 17 per cent.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always had a simple belief that activity is good for people and also good for society,\u201d said Burnham.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIf physical activity was placed at the heart of primary care, we\u2019d be in a different league in terms of health.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCan we get to a point where exercise referral \u2013 linked to a full package of nutritional advice and counselling \u2013 is the default option as a starting point rather than us turning immediately to medication?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burnham has also argued that preventative healthcare cannot be mandated from Westerminster, but must be built from bottom-up leadership in local neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n

UK Active CEO, Cameron Saunders, said on LinkedIn that he\u2019s cautiously optimistic about what a Burnham government might be able to deliver:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPhysical activity in primary care \u2013 Burnham has always believed exercise referral should be the default NHS offer, not an afterthought. As Mayor he pushed hard to embed it in Greater Manchester’s devolved health system. As PM, he’d have the levers to reform the GP contract \u2013 specifically the Quality Outcomes Framework \u2013 to incentivise activity referrals nationally; that’s a potential structural shift our sector has been waiting decades for.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Manchester Model, on a national scale. Burnham’s blueprint \u2013 Daily Mile in schools, social prescribing, active travel infrastructure, community-based provision \u2013 is proven. He’ll hopefully want to roll it out everywhere. For leisure operators, that means new commissioning frameworks, stronger referral pipelines and genuine integration with public health.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGyms as NHS delivery partners. He said it explicitly: gyms need to become the standardised, recognised exercise referral option that GPs can confidently prescribe to. That’s not a nice-to-have \u2013 it’s a policy architecture waiting to be built, delivered across public and private. Will he recognise it’a time to stop taxing prevention in order to fund cure?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPrevention over prescription. Burnham has always been frustrated that the NHS reaches for medication before lifestyle intervention. Let’s hope a Burnham government would push hard on this \u2013 moving physical activity from the margins of health policy to the centre.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter “Two Year Kier” I’m cautiously optimistic about what a Burnham government might be able to deliver, you’ve got to live in hope, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n