Later today, Britain will have a new Prime Minister. I wish Andy Burnham every success. Because we need a Prime Minister and a government focused on fixing the public’s priorities. My job as Leader of the Opposition is to hold the Prime Minister to account, not to be his cheerleader. When he does the right thing, I will praise him.
Burnham's Lack of Clear Plan
Andy Burnham is becoming Prime Minister without having set out a clear plan for government. He has refused calls to come to Parliament to answer questions from MPs, meaning there won’t be a PMQs until September. He has avoided proper media scrutiny, giving an interview instead to Gary Lineker. I have found Andy to be a nice man. But Britain needs a leader who can take difficult decisions, not a people pleaser.
We know Labour MPs will want to see ever more spending. As the Welfare Secretary himself admitted, every meeting with a Labour MP is about who they can tax to raise benefits. That’s why I say that changing Prime Minister isn’t a silver bullet. The problem wasn’t just Keir Starmer, it was the whole Labour Party.
Economic Challenges Inherited by Burnham
Keir Starmer just left an unexploded bomb under Andy Burnham's desk - it's a big problem. Starmer leaves behind a growing welfare bill, higher unemployment, and increased energy costs. We are borrowing so much that the debt interest alone is more than we spend on defence. The tax burden is killing economic growth, and making the cost of living worse for families. Labour has no mandate at all to put up taxes even further.
The answer is to cut spending, especially the benefits bill, and I am offering to work with Burnham to do this.
Conservative Party's New Direction
The Conservative Party understands that we must reflect on where we went wrong in our time in office. We have owned our mistakes and changed course, abandoning catastrophic Net Zero policies and accepting that we need to leave the ECHR so we can have stronger borders. Under my leadership, we have done the hard work of developing detailed plans to fix the problems facing Britain. Our Alternative King’s Speech set out a serious programme for government.
A government should enter office ready to answer questions and explain its choices. Instead, Labour has blocked attempts to make Andy Burnham face Parliamentary questions this week. Burnham has become Prime Minister first and is going to reveal his policies second. That is the wrong way round.
Burnham's Economic Vision vs. Thatcher's Legacy
Rather than setting out his plans to the country, Burnham has been speaking to the Labour party, promising to undo Margaret Thatcher’s policies. How ludicrous. Thatcher’s transformative premiership saw the fastest rise in working people’s income. She did this by creating the conditions for the economy to grow, leading to higher wages and better living standards, not by ever more taxes on the rich.
The Conservatives have changed and the choice at the next election is becoming clearer. Andy Burnham’s Labour offering state control and forced redistribution or my new Conservative Party-offering enterprise, responsibility and growth.
