Burnham attempted to rebuke claims from the Tories this afternoon that the the bus fare cap was their national policy, and not Burnham’s:
“It was actually my policy originally as Mayor of Greater Manchester, but I worked with Boris to take it uh national and it was hugely popular because it’s simple, but it saves people money every day. So I think it will really help people with the cost of living pressures they’re facing. It’s there for the whole of 2027.”
Guido Verify examined the claims. Andrew Gilligan, who is an expert because he helped design and implement the national policy in 2022 as a SpAd, said:
“I was transport adviser to Boris Johnson. We publicly announced the £2 bus fare cap before Burnham started his, though it began after. It is simply not true for the PM to say that he ‘worked with Boris to take it national.’
Andy Burnham says the £2 bus fare cap was his idea. It was not. We were working on it from spring 2022, and told Burnham’s team. He decided to pre-empt us by introducing it in September 2022, four months before we did. I’m pretty sure we paid for it, though!”
Burnham announced his scheme after his team heard about the Tories’ plans a few months after the Tories began formulating them in March 2022. The national Tory announcement came on 3rd September 2022 and it was implemented in January. Smart politics. The subsequent spin, not so much…
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.”