PM: We need The Independent more than ever

Andy Burnham has paid a glowing tribute to the “bravery, spirit and values” of The Independent on its 40th anniversary.

The prime minister said the digital news provider should be lauded for consistently championing “democracy, human rights” and the UK’s role on the world stage since it was launched in 1986.

He said he particularly admired it for challenging the status quo even when it is easier not to.

Marking the milestone in a letter celebrating four decades of The Independent, Mr Burnham – who spent Wednesday afternoon meeting Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky at Downing Street – praised the publication for the manner in which he said it always “sought different points of view”.

Comparing the outlet to his own political principles, he said it had been “built around an idea that I carry close to me today: independence of mind”.

“I have long believed that too much power in this country has been held by too few people, in too few places,” he wrote. “That Westminster has become too closed in on itself, and too easily consumed by conversations that mean nothing to the people it is meant to serve.

“So there is something I particularly admire, something I relate to, even about The Independent’s history of challenging the status quo, even when it might have been easier to go along with the crowd.”

The Independent is celebrating its 40 years by championing independent thought, and has released a list of 40 free thinkers who have shown a willingness to question the consensus, challenge received wisdom and to speak loudly when it matters.

Mr Burnham leads a number of high profile figures who have sent congratulations, including Conservative leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch, novelist Sir Salman Rushdie and poet Simon Armitage.

Wishing the publication a happy birthday, Sir Salman said: “Well named, The Independent, because independent thought is what we need and what we are sometimes short of; so long may you flourish.”

Mr Burnham said The Independent’s anniversary had a deep resonance with him “because, forty years on, we need that spirit now more than ever”, adding that it was a shining example of “journalism that opens up debate rather than shuts it down”.

With “trust in our politics at its lowest” and children in danger of being “pushed into echo chambers with a couple of swipes” of an algorithm, it was more important than ever to have media organisations prepared to stand up to politicians. And that included him, he added.

“We need media outlets that are prepared to challenge views, challenge politicians, and, yes, challenge me. And we need people who are brave enough to go against the grain.”

Moreover, the newspaper had demonstrated that “independence does not mean an absence of values”, while throughout its history it had “stood up for democracy, human rights and Britain’s place in the world”.

To maintain such high standards for forty years was a “fantastic achievement – the type we (politicians) could only dream of!” Mr Burnham joked.

Several former editors including Andrew Marr, Amol Rajan, Rosie Boycott and Janet Street-Porter have all written about their time at the helm of The Independent, and the importance of thinking a little differently.

Alan Rusbridger, former editor of the Guardian, added: “Many happy returns to a great and necessary survivor! To paraphrase its launch campaign: It was, it is… and long may it continue to be.”

To highlight the anniversary, The Independent commissioned a survey on free thinking which found that three in four people in the UK believe it is becoming harder to think freely in today’s society.

The findings show that the vast majority – some 81 per cent of those polled – consider themselves to be a free thinker to some degree, but a changing media landscape and the ubiquity of social media mean most believe it is getting harder to form and hold one’s own views.