Burnham’s announcements a stark shift from Starmer’s first weeks at helmpublished at 07:07 BST
Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent
This is the second announcement in two days designed to give
people what the new prime minister describes as “breathing space” against the
cost of living.
Combined with the tax cut on household electricity bills, it
is clear that Andy Burnham is prioritising tangible measures which can be
implemented quickly.
There is a stark tonal shift, too, from Keir Starmer’s first
weeks in office in which he emphasised how difficult things would continue to
be (something which he later acknowledged was a mistake).
The decision to reimpose the bus fare cap of £2 contrasts
with Burnham backing away this morning from suggestions which he made as
recently as Monday about the possibility of increasing the personal allowance –
the amount people earn before paying income tax, which has been frozen since
2021.
Backing away from that reflects that this is a new prime
minister who has both made quite a lot of commitments and displayed a range of
instincts on major policy questions.
He talks of the biggest council house
building programme since the postwar period, fixing social care on an NHS
model, taking public control of utilities – and that is before you get to the
level of defence spending implied by John Healey’s appointment as chancellor.
This week we are learning the order of Burnham’s priorities.
And perhaps now he has access to the civil service and to more granular advice
about the state of the public finances, Burnham himself is learning which of
his commitments are viable in the near-term.
