Burnham latest: PM U-turns on increase to personal tax-free allowance

Key points

• Burnham steps back from suggestions about increasing tax-free personal allowance
• PM announces £2 bus fare cap
• Burnham fails to commit to Healey’s 3 per cent defence spending demand
• Transport secretary '100% sure' bus fare cap funded
• Burnham's plans for devolution 'remains to be seen'

Andy Burnham fails to commit to Healey’s 3 per cent defence spending demand

Andy Burnham has failed to commit to new chancellor John Healey’s demands for defence spending to increase to 3 per cent of GDP by 2030, raising questions about how quickly he will allocate funding to Britain’s military.

Mr Healey quit as defence secretary in June, saying the defence investment plan did not provide enough money to future-proof the armed forces and keep Britain safe and criticised then-prime minister Sir Keir Starmer for not setting out a realistic timetable for the UK’s obligations to Nato to raise defence spending.

Defence spending was due to rise to 2.7 per cent of GDP by 2030 but Mr Healey argued it should instead rise to 3 per cent by then. Asked about Mr Healey’s previous demands, the prime minister’s official spokesperson stopped short of committing to them.

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Andy Burnham fails to commit to Healey’s 3 per cent defence spending demand

In full: Andy Burnham announces new £2 bus fare cap across England

Andy Burnham has announced that most bus fares in England will be capped at £2 from January, as part of a wider blitz of policies aimed at tackling the cost of living.

Currently, the nationwide cap on single bus fares is set at £3 until the end of March 2027. However, some areas – including London and Greater Manchester, where Mr Burnham set a £2 limit as mayor – have lower top rates for single tickets.

“Good, affordable transport links are an essential. No one should be priced out of those and left behind,” Mr Burnham said.

“But for too long people have said that cheaper transport isn’t an option. I don’t accept that. I’ve done it before and I will do it again now: a £2 cap on bus fares for millions across the country.

“Lower fares will help people get to where they need to – giving them breathing space to help with the cost of living.”

Andy Burnham announces new £2 bus fare cap across England

Burnham 'open to listening' in way Starmer 'wasn't', says Welsh FM

Welsh first minister Rhun ap Iorwerth has said Andy Burnham is “open to listening, perhaps in a way that Keir Starmer wasn’t”, especially regarding the devolution of powers.

It comes a day after Mr Burnham told him and the leaders of Scotland and Northern Ireland he was “focused on practical measures, not constitutional changes like further referendums”.

Mr ap Iorwerth told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday morning: “I had a conversation with Andy Burnham yesterday, congratulated him on becoming prime minister, and we both made it clear to each other that we wanted to have a positive relationship, a constructive relationship.

“I know that he understands devolution for Manchester. I want to help him understand what devolution means in Wales and what tools we need to make it work better.

“So, what powers do we need? I have a mandate to lead a government which stood on a platform of wanting powers over policing and justice to be devolved in Wales, rail powers and funding to be devolved to Wales, the right to be able to control our own natural resources.

“So there is a list, if you like, of things that we need to devolve now in order to move the story of Wales, the story of devolution, on to the next level.

“Now it’s clear that we have now a prime minister that is opening, open to listening, perhaps in a way that Keir Starmer wasn’t, and I’m eager to do everything that I can to make the case for Wales. I promised to stand up for Wales, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

What Burnham’s record on rough sleeping reveals about his first pledge as PM

What Burnham’s record on rough sleeping reveals about his first pledge as PM

Darren Jones intervention on energy bill was 'not the most timely or wise', transport secretary hits back

The transport secretary has hit back at former cabinet minister Darren Jones after he posted to social media claiming that the government's new plan to cut VAT from energy bills is "unfunded".

Heidi Alexander told Sky News: "I'm not sure it was either the most timely or wise tweet that Darren has ever put out."

She added: "Darren's a really good friend of mine, and I've got a lot of time for him. He was a great servant to the cabinet and to Keir's government. But you know, it wasn't the most wise or most timely of tweets.

"Government was going through a process of finding the money to be able to pay for the rollout of Digital ID. Andy Burnham has become the prime minister. He said that isn't going ahead, and so that money that was being found across government to fund that program is now instead being used to take VAT off electricity bills."

Government won't say how bus fare cap is funded, says Stride

Conservative shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said the government is “not actually specifying where the money is going to come from” as he questioned the financing of prime minister Andy Burnham’s bus fares cap.

Asked if he supported Mr Burnham’s £2 cap for single bus fares from January, Sir Mel told BBC Breakfast: “I think anything that’s about trying to get on top of cost of living pressures, of course, is very important because under this government we’ve seen very high levels of inflation, amongst other things.”

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said on Wednesday she was “100 per cent” the bus fare cap was fully funded.

She told BBC Breakfast: “There is £454 million pounds of reprioritising money, it’s switch spending.”

Sir Mel Stride said there was a “broader point here that’s really important, which is that under Labour we’ve ended up with a huge debt, massive servicing costs on that debt, and that means that we’ve really got, as a government, the government’s got to be explaining exactly where all these spending commitments are going to be funded from, and we saw yesterday a commitment on fuel bills, but when it came to the detail, there was no money allocated for it.

“And from what I can tell from this particular move on bus fares, we’re in a similar kind of situation whereby they’re saying they’re going to make some kind of savings within the energy department’s budget, but they’re not actually specifying where the money is going to come from.”

'We will be boldly Labour but we will also be prudently Labour', minister says

The transport secretary has said Andy Burnham has promised to both be "boldly Labour" and "prudently Labour" as he attempts to tackle the cost of living crisis.

Amid questions over which policies the new PM will pursue, and how he will fund them, Heidi Alexander told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "When we were at Cabinet yesterday, the prime minister was really clear with us that we are going to be boldly Labor, but we're also going to be prudently Labour, and we will need to reprioritise spending."

She added: "Politics is essentially about priorities, as you know, and Andy has been clear that there will need to be some reprioritisation."

£2 bus cap 'shows the direction of travel' under Burnham, says transport secretary

The £2 bus cap is "a signal of intent and shows you the direction of travel of the government under Andy Burnham", the transport secretary has said, insisting it will give people "a little bit of breathing space and help with the cost of living".

Heidi Alexander told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We've seen the experience in Greater Manchester where our new prime minister did so much to improve the public transport there. Since he created the B network, brought busses busses back under public control, set a fare cap, had control over timetables, we've seen bus usage go up by 11 per cent.

"But really, what this announcement today is about is giving people a little bit of breathing space and help with the cost of living. We know that there will be a lot of people that get to the end of every month before the next paycheck comes in, and they'll be worrying about whether there's any money left in their bank account.

"And there are millions of people who rely upon busses in England. There's a significant proportion of people that don't have access to a car, and so reducing that bus fare cap down for single journeys from £3 to £2 - on top of the announcement that we made about getting rid of VAT on energy bills from this autumn - I think this is really a signal of intent and shows you the direction of travel of the government under Andy Burnham."

Streeting and Mahmood apologise for joke about early prisoner release caught on hot mic

Defence secretary Wes Streeting has apologised after comments he made about the early release of prisoners were inadvertently picked up by a microphone.

Mr Streeting made the remarks during a conversation with home secretary Shabana Mahmood and the new justice secretary Alex Norris on Tuesday.

In the overheard comments, Mr Streeting suggested to Ms Mahmood that Mr Norris was “the enemy now” and “wants to let them all out”. The exchange occurred on Tuesday, a day after Mr Streeting returned to prime minister Andy Burnham’s new-look Cabinet.

Taking to X, Mr Streeting clarified that his comment was a reference to a joke shared between former Conservative prime minister Theresa May and ex-chancellor and home secretary Kenneth Clarke.

He wrote: “I hope everyone can see there was no ill intent behind this ribbing of the new justice secretary – it was a reference to an old May/Clarke joke.

“But I appreciate these are very serious issues and am sorry for any offence inadvertently caused by this moment of levity.”

Streeting and Mahmood apologise for joke about early prisoner release

Burnham's plans for devolution 'remains to be seen'

Sir Mel Stride said it “remains to be seen” what Andy Burnham means by devolution.

The Tory shadow chancellor said the detail in the prime minister’s plans was missing, and “it feels a little bit about musical chairs with politicians.”

Asked if he would support the devolution of powers if he had to vote on it, Sir Mel told BBC Breakfast: “So, look, we are a party that brought in devolution. In fact, the only reason that Andy Burnham was ever mayor of Greater Manchester was because of the fact that we set up that mayoralty when we were in power.

“But it remains to be seen exactly what Andy Burnham means by devolution. It can be anything from devolving a little bit more spending, all the way through to sharing taxes that are raised locally, all the way through to actually being able to redesign those taxes, which is a more fundamental reform.

“So we need to really see the detail. But a lot of this, the detail is missing, and it feels to me a little bit about musical chairs with politicians when he speaks about these things, rather than the meaningful and difficult decisions that he’s got to take, particularly around spending, particularly around controlling that welfare budget, in order to be able to get that pressure off people at the moment and get our economy moving.”

'Not wise' for Darren Jones to criticise government policy

Heidi Alexander has warned Darren Jones it is “not wise” to criticise a policy announcement after he was sacked from cabinet this week.

The former minister had hit out at Andy Burnham’s announcement that it was cutting VAT on household electricity bills, a plan which he said was “unfunded”.

Speaking to Sky News, the transport secretary said she is "not sure it was either the most timely or wise tweet that Darren has ever put out".

Transport secretary '100% sure' bus fare cap funded

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said she was “100 per cent sure” the £2 bus fare cap was fully funded.

Some £400 million of the money comes from switching international climate grants to repayable loans.

She told BBC Breakfast: “There is £454 million pounds of reprioritising money, it’s switch spending.

“We’re not going to be giving those grants to international climate projects in other countries.

“We’re going to be making those loans instead, so that money comes back.”

She also insisted the cut to VAT on domestic electricity bills was properly financed despite former cabinet minister Darren Jones suggested the money was being switched from an unfunded digital ID scheme.

She said it was “not true to say the money isn’t there to implement the changes on electricity bills”.

“The Office for Budget Responsibility said that implementing the digital ID programme was going to cost £1.8 billion, about £800 million of that money is actually going to be used to fund that change to cutting VAT off energy bills,” she said.

Comment: Psst! Chancellor – here’s one get-rich-quick scheme you can’t afford to ignore…

In an open letter to John Healey, Chris Blackhurst sets out why the new occupant of No 11 should seriously consider a ‘Robin Hood tax’ – a £500,000 annual wealth charge that would make Britain a magnet for the world’s mobile rich, and jumpstart the UK economy for everyone:

Psst! Chancellor – here’s one get-rich-quick scheme you can’t afford to ignore…

Shadow chancellor fears Healey 'captive' to a PM wanting to go back to 1970s

Sir Mel Stride has expressed fears that the new chancellor may be “captive to a prime minister who seems to want to go back to the 1970s.”

The shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride has said John Healey “has got a huge job ahead of him”, telling BBC Breakfast on Wednesday morning: “I think that John Healey has got a huge job ahead of him.

“Of course, I wish him well in that because we want that for the good of the country.

“But I fear that he is somewhat captive to a prime minister who seems to want to go back to the 1970s and huge spending and state intervention, higher taxes, higher borrowing, and all of that, which is what we’ve seen from Labour to date, but even more of it.

“Also constrained by his backbenchers, who do not have any appetite, particularly for welfare reform, which I think is key to the success of our economy.

“And I think under those circumstances, particularly with an economy that itself is very constrained now because of its mismanagement by Rachel Reeves over the last couple of years, I think he’s really got his work cut out.”

Burnham announces £2 bus fare cap

Andy Burnham has announced that most bus fares in England will be capped at £2 from January, as part of a wider blitz of policies aimed at tackling the cost of living.

Currently, the nationwide cap on single bus fares is set at £3 until the end of March 2027.

However, some areas – including London and Greater Manchester, where Mr Burnham set a £2 limit as mayor – have lower top rates for single tickets.“Good, affordable transport links are an essential.

No one should be priced out of those and left behind,” Mr Burnham said.

“But for too long people have said that cheaper transport isn’t an option. I don’t accept that. I’ve done it before and I will do it again now: a £2 cap on bus fares for millions across the country.

“Lower fares will help people get to where they need to – giving them breathing space to help with the cost of living.”

It comes after the new prime minister vowed that his government would give people a “sense that help is coming” in his first Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

The measure is backed by £454 million of funding – including money to allow devolved governments to take similar action.

Burnham steps back from suggestions about increasing tax-free personal allowance

Andy Burnham has backtracked from suggestions about increasing the £12,570 tax-free personal allowance as part of his plan to tackle the cost of living.

The threshold has been frozen since 2021, meaning more people are dragged into paying tax as earnings increase as a result of inflation.

Speaking to The Times over the weekend, the new prime mininster said that the "frustration about the personal allowance" he had heard from voters while campaigning in the Makerfield by-election was "lodged in my mind".

And on Monday, he told reporters that "all of this will be looked at" in the next budget but admitted any change would be expensive and "difficult given the financial circumstances in which we find ourselves".

However, allies of Mr Burnham have now told the BBC that changes to the personal allowance are not part of his initial plan to tackle the cost of living.