‘Pretty bold’: Burnham jumps to defend Healey’s Budget
Andy Burnham has jumped to the defence of John Healey’s first Budget, claiming it was “pretty bold” and looked to “help everybody”.
The Prime Minister said on Wednesday afternoon that the Chancellor delivered on support to British households and businesses.
He told broadcasters: “It’s pretty bold to help 20m households with their energy costs through a council tax cut this winter. It’s bold to lift 70,000 businesses out of business rates altogether.”
Burnham added that conflicts in the Middle East, which are disrupting trade and pushing up energy costs, did not leave the government “huge room for manoeuvre”.
The Prime Minister and Chancellor are now facing a tussle to defend the Budget after the government raised taxes by around £7bn and increased borrowing in the short-term to fund an energy support package and tax reliefs.
Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the Confederation of British Industry, one of the country’s largest industry groups, was among those to say that the Budget did “not meet the scale” of economic challenges facing the UK.
City analysts at Berenberg called the statement a “placeholder budget” while the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which is widely relied upon for independent analysis, said Healey had announced a “raft of fiddly measures but very little that will move the dial on growth”.
Burnham slaps down election claims
Burnham also ruled out calling a snap election in the next 12 months despite intensifying speculation over a possible vote being called to shore up his mandate for government.
“I have said repeatedly since coming into this job, I’m not thinking about myself. I’m not thinking about my own party and its prospects.
“I am thinking about people, and I’m thinking about what I can do to help them to have that care for people, which I spoke about on my first day in Downing Street.”
He argued he was “putting Britain on a different path”.
“We’ve got a 10-year plan to come, and that will inform the spending review next year. These are my priorities, not looking at our own internal party political advantage.”
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said that most people would be thinking “Is that it?” in response to the Budget.
“Unfortunately, just like every other Labour budget, the headline story is the same: more borrowing, more tax rises, and surprise, surprise, more money on benefits. This Budget does not come close to meeting the moment,” she said.