Guido has done cost estimates of Burnham’s spending commitments and inherited black holes so far. It’s not pretty:
Keeping the triple lock will keep costs of more than £10 billion per year baked in and rising. The funding commitments laid out above cost around £50 billion extra per year plus upfront costs of £115 billion or so. Across the three remaining years of this parliament that is a bill of around £250 billion. And this is a conservative estimate…
Burnham has deliberately avoided media and no one knows what his plans are because – unlike in the selection of any other PM in modern history – there are no opportunities to ask him questions outside of his team’s direct and tight control. Seeing as the taxpayer will be asked to stump up at least quarter of a trillion pounds, Brits can expect taxes to go even higher. Brace, brace…
Badenoch said at her speech on Monday morning: “We are absolutely ready to fight a general election. We saw the results in Aberdeen South: 50% of the vote. Because we can unite the country… It’s about uniting the country, for God’s sake, behind a centre-right agenda.”