What would Andy Burnham do if he becomes Prime Minister?

Although no votes have yet been counted in the Makerfield by-election, Labour’s candidate and prospective leadership contender Andy Burnham has already begun to set out his vision for the country if he is successful in challenging Keir Starmer for the keys to Number 10.

From nationalising Thames Water to electoral reform and hiking defence spending through borrowing, LabourList has taken a closer look at the policy platform outlined by the current Greater Manchester Mayor should he enter Downing Street.

Economy and taxation

Increase in income tax allowance

On his Question Time appearance earlier this month, Burnham hinted that he would raise the personal allowance for income tax to ease the tax burden on working people.

He said: “On the personal allowance, I’ve heard on so many doorsteps and I’ve said to my team let’s have a proper look at this and let’s develop a policy.”

Review of NICs increase for employers

In an interview with Newsnight, Burnham said he would reconsider the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions enacted in Labour’s first Budget in 2024.

Burnham said: “I have said that I thought the weight of the burden of employers’ national insurance wasn’t the right decision. However, it was the decision.

“There is more that needs to be done to listen to the voice of small business, and as I’ve gone around this constituency, I’m hearing a lot. People just feel they are at the kind of limits of what they can do.”

Cut to business rates for pubs and small businesses

Burnham has promised he would cut business rates for pubs by 20 percent and lift the threshold at which other small businesses pay rates.

He said: “Our high streets matter to me because they matter to the people who live here. I want to make sure that these family-owned businesses, as the heart and soul of this country, are protected and given the chance to thrive.”

No breach of manifesto commitments on tax

When launching his by-election campaign last month, Burnham vowed not to raise income tax, VAT or employee national insurance rates were he to become Prime Minister.

He told reporters that he is “committed” to Labour’s manifesto promise not to increase taxes on working people and said: “I am committed to the manifesto commitments on tax, I think that’s really important from a trust point of view.”

Reform of council tax – possibly with land value tax

At his by-election campaign launch, Burnham criticised the current council tax system as “highly regressive”, with its 1991-based valuations “not justifiable”. He said: “You can be paying much more council tax in a Band D house in Greater Manchester than in some of the very wealthiest parts of London.”

He has called for reform of the system and said he had “long been persuaded of the argument for a land value tax”.

Review of inheritance tax hike for farmers

Burnham told The Telegraph that he would “look again” at the increase in inheritance tax for farmers were he to serve as Prime Minister.

He said: “I personally have heard from farmers. I met the National Farmers’ Union here in the North West shortly after it was introduced. I think that does need looking at again.

“I understand where large entities might buy a farm for wider commercial purposes, but for family farms I think we do need to hear their voice – and we do need to revisit that proposal.”

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Constitutional and democratic reform

Reform and downsizing of the House of Lords

Burnham has previously called for an overhaul of the House of Lords, proposing to turn the second chamber into a ‘Senate of Regions and Nations’, with seats for the country’s metro mayors. 

Speaking to The House magazine, he said that reform of the Lords should be “the first place to look” in order to cut the cost of politics. He said: “I wouldn’t rule out quite an early change, because I’ve long believed that there’s a first stage of Lords reform, which is indirect election that could be linked to a general election, and I just think we can’t delay this any longer. I don’t think we can justify half of our national legislature being unelected. I think this is something that is, in many ways, quite scandalous.”

Proportional representation for Westminster

Burnham has said he would back sweeping changes to the electoral system should he become Prime Minister. He has previously called for proportional representation for UK general elections in order to make politics “less point-scoring [and] more problem-solving” and suggested it should be included in the next Labour manifesto.

In an interview with BBC Radio Manchester, Burnham said: “Where you can work with others, you can do that. I do think there needs to be reform to the electoral system to enable less point-scoring, more problem-solving – that’s what I think we need.”

Reform of the whipping system

Burnham has previously outlined a desire to loosen the party whipping system, having previously criticised the “straitjacket of the whip”. He previously told LabourList that abolishing the whipping system “would raise the esteem of parliamentary politics in the eyes of the public” and said: “In my 16 years in Parliament, I felt over time people get less and less sense of what you’re all about. You can’t vote all the time in the way that you would want to, and you can’t speak freely and authentically in interviews because you’ve got a line to take.”

He also hit out at Starmer’s decision to withdraw the whip from several Labour MPs after voting against the party on policy matters.

He told The Guardian: “This joke that everyone tells about a Corbynite, a Blairite, a Brownite going to a bar. I can laugh about it to a degree, but this is the point: it says more about the people who tell that joke than me, because it says they are factional. I’ve always been a Labour politician that’s about unifying people, trying to be positive and working together. That’s my approach to politics. I think politics needs less division and less factionalism these days.”

Burnham also told the newspaper that left-wingers like Faiza Shaheen and Jamie Driscoll should never have been expelled from the party – but drew the line at the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn being allowed to return to the Labour Party.

No snap general election

Burnham has seemingly ruled out a snap general election should he become Prime Minister, telling The Guardian: “Calling a general election? I’m sorry, I think there’s a limit to how much time people want people to be on their doorsteps, isn’t there?”

Foreign affairs, Europe and defence

Rejoining the EU… ‘in my lifetime’

Burnham has spoken in favour of rejoining the European Union at some point in the future, but ruled out any immediate plans to return. He said: “I personally believe that rerunning Brexit now would be a mistake because it would entrench that feeling of division.”

Increase in defence spending through borrowing

Burnham told Bloomberg earlier this year that he backed the government’s plans to boost defence spending, but signalled his support for greater government borrowing to fund it.

He said: “There’s certainly a case, when we look at the pressure on defence spending, to consider that exceptionally outside of the [fiscal] rules.”

Continuing Starmer approach to Trump administration

Although critical of many aspects of his leadership, Burnham has supported Keir Starmer’s handling of the White House. He told The Guardian: “Normally you would want a good relationship with the United States, but if you can’t agree with them, then say that as well. That’s the only way I think to deal with them.

“Obviously, the relationship is important to the UK, but not to the point where we just go along with anything they say. We’ve got in trouble in the past when that happens. I think the approach that Keir has taken is the right one.”

Welfare, health and public services

‘Urgent’ reform of social care system

Burnham, who previously served as Health Secretary under Gordon Brown, previously tried to reform social care, describing the urgent need to fix the system back in 2009.

Almost 20 years later, Burnham has suggested bringing forward the publication of the Casey Review to the end of this year, with plans to introduce measures that could be implemented quickly. He has also suggested replacing inheritance tax with a “care levy” to fund a national care service in recent years.

He told The Guardian: “It is urgent, the need to fix social care, and I personally would look at all of the kinds of implications of that in relation to inheritance tax and care changes and everything. I wouldn’t flinch from it.”

‘Stronger public control’ of utilities and transport

Burnham has been outspoken about the damage privatisation and deindustrialisation under Thatcher caused areas like Makerfield and has called for energy, housing, water and transport to be brought “back under stronger public control”, stopping short of outright nationalisation.

However, he has been more explicit regarding Thames Water, telling The Guardian: “Public ownership is absolutely an option. I would say for Thames Water, that is what should be done.”

Restoring £2 cap on bus fares

Burnham has pledged to restore the £2 bus fare cap to help get people back to work, having introduced the same cap in Greater Manchester.

The England-wide cap was set at £2 by the Conservative government, but raised to £3 by Labour shortly after the general election.

The Telegraph reports that Burnham’s proposal would be implemented across Britain.

Bringing down welfare spending

Burnham has stressed the need to bring down the welfare bill and get more people back to work. Speaking to PoliticsHome, he argued that the best way to do so is through a more localised approach, with local authorities empowered to give unemployed people support for mental health issues.

He said: “We don’t have a system that is set up to look and really get to the heart of why somebody isn’t able to sustain themselves in the labour market, and that’s been the journey that I’ve been on as Mayor of Greater Manchester. If you do give people what they’re looking for, I think you can support more people into work.”

READ MORE: Labour NEC member Jess Barnard reinstated after party suspension lifted

Immigration and social issues

Further cut to net migration

Burnham has said that net migration in the UK “needs to fall further”, highlighting how residents in Makerfield had “raised their concerns about immigration” on the doorstep.

While he said he “supports the broad thrust” of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s reforms to indefinite leave to remain, he said that the government must “get the balance right”.

Backing EHRC guidance on single-sex spaces

Having previously supported trans women’s access to female toilets, Burnham has said he endorses EHRC guidance that mandates single-sex facilities be used according to biological sex. He told the BBC that he has “always taken a live and let live approach” and said he wanted a situation that is “fair but that recognises the concerns of all people and finds the point of balance and then brings people back together”.

Devolution, housing and local government

Greater powers for councils to clamp down on vape shops

Speaking to The Mirror, Burnham stressed the importance of reviving local high streets and pledged greater powers for councils to stop the spread of vape shops, along with a police crackdown on shops that act as fronts for organised crime.

He told the newspaper: “Changing the planning designation of vape shops, which in Greater Manchester we’ve seen linked to other forms of criminality, and giving councils more ability to prevent the spread, because at the moment there’s nothing they can do if a vape shop moves into an office or a cafe where it’s been vacated, the council can’t stop it.

“It’s about giving more control over the high street. I’m a very big critic of adult gaming centres – you can see they’re open 24/7 and all the social harms that come from that. Again, councils need stronger control to stop the spread of those things.”

Greater fiscal devolution

As Mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham has been one of the champions of the benefits of devolution. As such, he has called for greater fiscal devolution, including allowing councils to levy tourist taxes.

Redirecting funding for social homes

According to The Guardian, Burnham would reallocate £39 billion earmarked for social and affordable housing solely toward social homes should he enter Downing Street.

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