If Andy Burnham registers his Manchester home as his main residence, the council tax on his Downing Street flat would fall to the taxpayer rather than the PM. Saving Burnham a handy £2000 a year…
As then-Cabinet Office minister Ruth Anderson said in a written PQ answer last year:
“…where a minister occupies an official residence as a second home, the responsibility for payment of council tax falls to the responsible Department.”
In this case, it’s the Cabinet Office picking up the bill at the generosity of the taxpayer. Burnham was pictured jogging outside his Manchester home over the weekend, and admitted to Laura Kuenssberg that the family dog won’t be moving to Number 10…
Both residential flats on Downing Street are in Band H, and Westminster’s charge for 2026/27 is £2,095.70. Westminster has charged a 100% premium on second homes since April 2025, which would double the bill. Luckily ministers don’t have to pay that on official residences, obviously…
Burnham also hinted over the weekend that he may scrap council tax altogether, given it is “highly regressive“. When you pay it in the first place, at least…
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.”