Burnham said this afternoon:
“I’ve said we’ll stick to the fiscal rules, and by that I mean the existing fiscal rules, and use obviously any flexibility within them… We will stick to the existing rules and I’ve made that very clear in Downing Street. So none of this is about taking risks with the economy. I’ve never done that in any role that I’ve had… I’ve always taken a very prudent approach.”
The ‘fiscal rules’ are made up and have numerous loopholes. You can also change them as Reeves did by tweaking debt definitions. Andy Burnham has been talking about his NHS-style social care plans this afternoon, too. This is going to get expensive…
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.”