France just plunged into the abyss – now Andy Burnham risks dragging Britain to the brink

It’s risky, making a fetish of mob rule, political terror and the guillotine. To the French, violence and anarchy are presented as a valid response to any government you don’t like. Yet the French Revolution didn’t even succeed on its own terms. Instead of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, it gave us Napoleon, who plunged the rest of Europe into chaos too. Until the Duke of Wellington sorted him out.

We shouldn’t be too smug. Britain has had its fair share of riots, including the poll tax protests of 1990, the London riots of 2011 and 2024’s anti-immigration riots. So there’s a real danger today’s anarchy will spread over here. Yet we don’t celebrate revolutionary violence in the same way. With the world heading towards the abyss, that could change. Which is why Andy Burnham needs to tread carefully.

The French Revolution of 1789 was triggered by famine, soaring bread prices, an unfair tax system and resentment of absolute monarchy. Today’s unrest is driven by the cost of living, fuel prices, deteriorating school buildings and Emmanuel Macron’s irritating smugness. The underlying anger is familiar. People feel the system isn’t working for them. They want more, especially more public spending.

Here’s the extraordinary thing. French government spending reached 57.2% of GDP last year, among the highest in the Western world. Britain’s is historically high too, but at 44.5%, it’s still way behind. Yet French students are protesting about crumbling classrooms and teacher shortages despite years of increased education spending. It’s what the French do. Throw stuff until the president caves and spends even more.

But France already takes an enormous slice of national income to fund public services and a generous welfare state, including pensions from age 62 for many. The result? It’s buried even deeper in debt than we are. When people don’t get the cosseting they expect, they’ll riot like it’s 1789.

That’s the danger of expecting the government to solve every problem. People lose their minds when it can’t. Here’s what the French are really rioting for – the right to continue living beyond their means.

Historically, Britain learned valuable lessons from the French Revolution. Governments must address legitimate grievances before they boil over. Food and energy supplies must be secure. Patriotism and religion give people a sense of belonging. Peaceful protest must be protected, but political violence and extremism must be dealt with firmly. Today, it feels like we’re forgetting those lessons.

Our history also shows that a country of independent, invested citizens is a healthier prospect than one in which everybody looks to the state for salvation, and kicks off when it can’t deliver. Which brings us to Burnham.

His genial, man-of-the-people manner might calm tempers. Promising more spending on public services and throwing the odd bone to Palestinian protesters might buy him breathing space. But he risks taking us in precisely the wrong direction. More state provision, more promises and more public spending, without giving people the tools to build secure lives for themselves. He wants us to become more French, basically.

And more European, of course. He’s drawing us ever closer to the EU even as Europe struggles with economic stagnation, political upheaval and the rise of the populist Right that Labour loathes. Which is complete madness. If we try to be more like France, London will end up copying Paris. And right now, that’s not a good look.