UK's Burnham says greater public control of essentials needed to tackle inflation

LONDON, July 17 (Reuters) - Britain's incoming prime minister Andy Burnham said on Friday that the government could not control inflation effectively without greater public control over essential services, promising to set the country on a new economic path.

"If we don't have sufficient public control over the cost of the essentials, how can we have control over inflation, public spending, and the rest of the economy?" Burnham said after being confirmed as the new leader of the Labour Party, succeeding Keir Starmer.

Burnham said an era of privatisation in the 1980s meant Britain had "surrendered control" of essentials such as housing, water, energy and transport, leaving people exposed to higher costs.

He said the shift was needed to make life more affordable and reverse what he described as a long-term transfer of power away from local communities and regions. He has said he wanted greater powers to be devolved to more local leaders.

The incoming prime minister's comments come as Britain debates the future of services such as Thames Water, the country's biggest water supplier, where Burnham has previously said public ownership would be the best option.

Thames Water is seeking to avoid the government's special administration process after years of financial difficulties left it carrying about £20 billion of debt.

(Reporting by William James and Alistair Smout, writing by Sam Tabahriti)