Andy Burnham has declared that the best example of his ability to make tough choices was his raising taxes in Manchester. Implosion on contact with Downing Street incoming…
Burnham invited the New Statesman to see how popular he is in Makerfield with a pre-selected run of door-knocks. Asked by the magazine’s political editor Ailbhe Rea whether he can identify any of the “tough decisions” he claims to have carried out, Andy named taking on Hillsborough and infected blood. When it was pointed out to him that these were popular political campaigns to jump on, he eventually said:
“I have raised taxes in Greater Manchester. If you look at my mayoral precept, it’s significantly higher than anyone else’s mayoral precept. But the way I’ve done it is I’ve said to people: ‘I will do it for a specific purpose to keep the £2 fare cap.’ So, you know, I think it’s about how you do things, isn’t it?”
In February, Burnham hiked that precept by 19.4%, which increased taxes for the average household by £25. Seeing as all Labour MPs want to talk about is “who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others“, Burnham will have an easy ride. Good luck sticking to the manifesto now your spokesman has said there won’t be a general election…
On the manifesto the Manchester mayor said:
“I look back at the manifesto, and I wouldn’t have written it like that myself when it comes to tax. I think it was quite restrictive. I think people put a premium now on honesty rather than, you know, things that are crafted for political reasons… The manifesto has to be stuck to. That’s important.”
The manifesto has to be stuck to until it is time to jettison it…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”