Andy Burnham, the newly elected Makerfield MP and former Greater Manchester Mayor, is on track to become the UK's next Prime Minister following Sir Keir Starmer's resignation. With his return to Parliament last month, Burnham has outlined his positions on key issues including DWP benefits, welfare, and the cost of living.
Tax Promises and Tackling the Cost of Living Crisis
Burnham has stated he would "stick by" Labour's 2024 general election manifesto, which promised not to increase taxes on "working people" including National Insurance, income tax, and VAT. However, he added there is "some room" for "movement on tax." In an interview with Andrew Marr on LBC, Burnham explained: "I stick by the manifesto and the promises that it made. So, let me be absolutely clear about that, but there is some room within that manifesto for movement on tax." He proposed higher business rates on warehouses and major developments on city outskirts to fund a 20% cut in business rates for pubs and lift some high street businesses out of business rates altogether. He said he wanted to "reward the businesses that bring social benefit, the businesses that bring people together, the bars, the restaurants, the coffee shops, the hairdressers, because the High Street really needs more of our attention."
Burnham also argued that Britain is "paying too much for the basics," as reported by The Guardian. He said: "People are paying too much, but businesses are also paying too much, and that is certainly true of energy. What I would do, if successful, is lay out a plan for more public control over water, energy, transport, so that over the period we can get those bills down, fares down, and give people and give businesses breathing space." He emphasized: "Britain needs more breathing space … We do need to be serious about putting more money back into people’s pockets."
State Pension Triple Lock
In a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on July 3, Burnham confirmed his plans for the State Pension triple lock. He said it is "important" to continue the Labour manifesto commitment to maintain the triple lock. The triple lock ensures the State Pension increases every April in line with whichever is highest: earnings growth between May and July, inflation in September, or 2.5%. In April, the State Pension increased by 4.8% in line with wage growth, while other DWP benefits were uprated by 3.8% in line with inflation, and the UK minimum wage rose by 4.1% for those aged 21 and older. Burnham wrote: "I appreciate there’s a lot of debate about this but it is important that the commitment in the manifesto stands."
Benefits and Welfare Reform
Burnham told The Times that he would not be "squeamish" about reducing the welfare bill, but ruled out "crude" short-term cuts, instead pointing to long-term plans to "support people into work." He said: "I am not squeamish about saying that the plan would be to reduce the welfare bill. Not at all." However, he added: "It is not the traditional Westminster way of just crude cuts, short-term cuts that then create a backlash and create more political turbulence. It is actually going to do things that will reduce the benefits bill, moving towards a more preventative state that makes the right investments to support people into work." He criticized the current system: "We do not have a preventative, productive, growth-enabling state. We are doing the opposite. We end up dealing with crises and spending huge amounts of money supporting people in a crisis situation rather than into much, much earlier intervention to a more positive outcome."
Burnham proposed reducing the benefits bill by changing the education system to better support young people pursuing technical qualifications and providing work placements for 16-year-olds. He agreed with the Milburn report that it was wrong that for every £25 spent on benefits for young people, only £1 was spent on employment support. He also advocated for government defence procurement contracts to include social value, such as apprenticeships and work placements. "To me the fact that Britain has not had a very strong intentional approach to British procurement is crazy," he said. "As Mayor of Greater Manchester, I have deliberately fought against the system to have our buses built in Falkirk and Ballymena. I see other contracts going off to China." Additionally, Burnham expressed a desire to see mental health support provided for those in work.
