Prime Minister Andy Burnham has hit back at billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe for talking Britain down with doom-laden warnings about the rich quitting the UK.
Sir Jim, who left the UK in 2018 to be a tax exile in Monaco, said at the weekend that the UK was in decline as he complained the UK's attitude to wealth was driving the mega-rich to leave the country.
PM's upbeat message
Mr Burnham rubbished Sir Jim's claim that "Britain is on the slide" and said people could be hopeful that better times lie ahead.
Mr Burnham hit back, telling reporters travelling to New York: "I hear people saying the country is on the slide. We’re the fastest growing [economy] in the G7. There’s lots to be proud of, there’s a lot right with the country and I’m going to give a really upbeat message when I speak [today]."
He added: "We can be hopeful about where we’re going, we can draw a line under the last decade and say this next one’s going to be different, and it is going to be different."
UN General Assembly and Trump meeting
The PM made the comments en route to the UN General Assembly, where he will hold a high stakes first meeting with Donald Trump. The spectre of Mr Trump's disastrous Iran war will hang over the meeting, as the economic fallout from the conflict puts the squeeze on household budgets.
Asked if he would urge the US President to end the war due to cost of living, Mr Burnham said: "Of course the message is that we want to see an end to the conflict as quickly as possible and we stand ready to play our part."
Cost of living promise
But Mr Burnham insisted he could keep his promise to drive down the cost of living despite the global headwinds moving against him.
He said: "The government I lead will be a cost of living government because that is the biggest issue of our times. You need to separate what can realistically be done to provide short term help, and what are the long term structural changes you can make to make the everyday basics more affordable to people."
He added: "People are feeling, where is my ability to have a holiday, look forward to a holiday with the kids, go on a night out, have a few beers, that’s what people are feeling, I think it’s realistic to say they don’t expect everything to be done, they want a government that is trying, doing what it can, where it can."
"But it’s then about what the long term changes we need to make to put the country on a long term path where things are affordable, but also where the country is more functional, the economy is growing, I will be making the point while I’m here."
