Prime Minister Andy Burnham has admitted his first Budget could have been bolder, acknowledging it did not deliver as many sweeping changes as he would have liked. The concession came after political opponents accused him and Chancellor John Healey of failing to do enough.
Admission on Budget limitations
Speaking to ITV, Mr Burnham said he did not think any Prime Minister or Chancellor would describe their Budget as the one they wanted to deliver. He said: "I don't think any Prime Minister and Chancellor would say that, because a Budget is by definition a very difficult thing."
He added: "In the times that we're currently in, I feel that the volatility of things means you just can't necessarily deliver the Budget that in an ideal world you would want to deliver." The broadcaster is producing a documentary marking the PM's first 100 days in office.
Reasons for reduced ambition
Mr Burnham blamed the Iran war and prevailing global headwinds for limiting the scope of the Budget. He said the Chancellor came to him early on, suggesting it was right to go early and close down speculation, given the way the world was changing "by the day".
He explained: "And as we were going through, the numbers were changing a lot because of what was going on in the world. So, to come to your question, the room for manoeuvre wasn't what I would have hoped it to be."
He added: "I guess then the question is, you know, radical within what we were able to do. It was quite a big call to ask the banks to repay the help they had off people 20 or so years ago."
Defence spending defended
Despite the limitations, Mr Burnham argued plans to give £100 energy bills relief to millions of households was "quite a significant, significant step". He also suggested Labour's manifesto constrained some of his ambitions for government.
Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting defended Labour's record on defence after criticism the Budget did not map out increases to military funding. He said the government is doing "as much as we can, as fast as we can" to ramp up spending after warning Britain must be ready for war in 1,000 days.
In the Budget, Mr Healey confirmed a £4.7 billion black hole in the Defence Investment Plan had been plugged and committed to hiking defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030. However, he admitted details of how this uplift will be funded won't be revealed until next year's spending review.
