Andy Burnham admits his first Budget was not as radical as he wanted because world turmoil left little room
Prime Minister Andy Burnham speaking to ITV News, with NatWest chief executive Paul Thwaite among those criticising Chancellor John Healey for lacking ambition on growth.John Healey, with renters facing an extra £700 on annual bills after Labour hiked landlord property tax, following the Budget the OBR warned would bring a "steady rise in rents".
Prime Minister Andy Burnham told ITV in a first-100-days interview that global volatility forced him and Chancellor John Healey to pull back from the more ambitious Budget they had planned. Burnham said "the room for manoeuvre wasn't what I would have hoped," pointing to turbulence from the wars in Ukraine and the Gulf. He defended the package by highlighting a one-off payment to 20 million households and the bank levy as "quite a significant step."
Burnham also used the interview to flatly rule out an early election: 'I'll keep ruling it out.'
He admitted the 2024 manifesto — barring rises in income tax, VAT or national insurance — constrained his choices, saying he would not have written it exactly as it stands.
Andy Haldane, a former Bank of England chief economist once linked to Burnham's economic team, gave the Budget just four out of ten, warning of a 50 per cent chance the economy will be worse next year.
