Early evening summary
Keir Starmer has suggested that Andy Burnham would do as much damage to the economy as Liz Truss did if he were to become prime minister. Starmer has been doing a round of regional TV interviews and, speaking to ITV Granada, he responded to Burnham’s comment in an interview yesterday that “being in hock to the bond markets” was wrong. (See 5.05pm.) Asked if he felt threatened by a potential Burnham leadership challenge, Starmer replied:
I’m not going to get drawn into commenting on the mayor’s personal ambitions, but I do want to be really clear about our fiscal rules, because economic stability is the foundational stone of this government.
It was three years this week ago that Liz Truss shows what happens if you abandon fiscal rules. Now, in her case, she did that for tax cuts. But the same would happen if it was spending. And, we saw what happened to working people three years ago, the infliction of harm on them.
I’m not prepared to let a Labour government ever inflict that harm on working people. Which is why I’ve always been clear our fiscal rules are ironclad. And that is because they protect working people.
And there’s nothing progressive about borrowing more than we need to. It’s nothing progressive about abandoning fiscal rules. They’re the foundational stone of this government.
Starmer has said the next election will be a choice between “patriotic national renewal” under the Labour government, and “the politics of grievance, of toxic divide, which is what Reform are all about”. He said he would be “lead from the front into the next election”. And, on the Tories, he told ITV Anglia: “I think the Conservative party is basically dead.”
Starmer has described Donald Trump’s claim that London “wants to go to sharia law” as “ridiculous nonsense”. He told BBC London:
You saw from the state visit last week that there are plenty of things on which the president and I agree and we’re working together.
There are some issues on which we disagree. And what the president said about the mayor, who’s doing a really good job, in fact driving down serious crime, what he said about the introduction of sharia law was ridiculous nonsense.
The government has announced it will spend up to £5bn on reviving high streets, parks and public spaces, PA Media reports. PA says:
The investment aims to support people across 339 neighbourhoods to lead the renewal in their local areas as part of the government’s new Pride in Place programme.
As part of the fund, 169 areas will receive £2m every year for a decade to give them certainty when planning for the future, totalling £3.5bn.
This is on top of an existing commitment to 75 areas, costing £1.5bn.
Separately, a further 95 areas will receive an immediate £1.5m cash injection to upgrade public spaces with new green spaces, play areas and sports and leisure facilities.
Updated
Lucy Powell denounces Farage as 'love child of Thatcher and Enoch Power' and says triangulating against him won't work
Lucy Powell, the former Commons leader and candidate for Labour’s deputy leadership, has said the party must have the confidence to properly denounce Nigel Farage. Describing the Reform UK leader as the “love child of Margaret Thatcher and Enoch Powell” (metaphorical, obviously), she implies that Labour has been triangulating with Farage, and she says it is time to stop.
(Triangulation is a political strategy that involves, not opposing another party outright, but finding a half-way house between their policy and your policy, in the hope that the compromise position will be the most popular one. Arguably New Labour was almost entirely the product of triangulation, between Thatcherism and Old Labour.)
Powell has made the case in an article for the Guardian. Here is an extract.
Taking on Reform UK is the battle of our political age, but we shouldn’t end up arguing on their terms, using their language. We need to wrest back control of the political megaphone that Farage brandishes and use it to amplify a Labour message based on the values we cherish – and that the British people share. As Labour’s deputy leader I would take the fight to Farage in a way that would energise our movement and expose the mendacity his populist rhetoric disguises.
This week, the Reform leader announced he would deport millions of people who live here legally, rounding up law-abiding residents with settled status who work hard, pay their taxes and help make our country great. It was the most outrageous political announcement of my lifetime, raising the prospect of US-style immigration raids on homes and workplaces. The parents we meet outside the school gates, the neighbours we chat to on the street and the colleagues we share a drink with after work could be tracked down, arrested and disappeared. It is a disgraceful scheme cooked up by a man who is the love child of Margaret Thatcher and Enoch Powell. No amount of posing with pint in hand and fag in mouth can mask the malice, division and hatred that drives it.
We need to call out Farage for what he is, strongly and unashamedly. When the US president lies about London wanting to “go to sharia law” under mayor Sadiq Khan, we have to call it out. When billionaires like Elon Musk encourage violence in our communities, we have to face up and fight. There can be no triangulation in the face of the hard right.
We need to rediscover the intellectual self-confidence to take the fight to Farage and set out the solutions the country needs to tackle the deep-seated problems holding Britain back.
And here is the full article.
Updated
Burnham more popular than some other potential future Labour leaders, poll suggests
Andy Burnham is more popular than some of the other potential rivals to replace Keir Starmer, according to new polling by Savanta for The House magazine.
In her write-up, Sienna Rodgers says:
In polling of 2,086 UK adults conducted between 19 and 22 September by Savanta for The House, 28 per cent said Burnham would be better than Starmer as PM, with 14 per cent saying he would be worse and 28 per cent saying he would be neither better nor worse.
By comparison, just 15 per cent said [Angela] Rayner would be better, while 38 per cent said she would be worse; and 16 per cent thought [Ed] Miliband would be an improvement, compared with 32 per cent who thought he would be worse. [Wes] Streeting scored the lowest “better than Starmer” rating, at 14 per cent, though only 19 per cent said he would be worse.
Here are the figures:
One obvious problem with this polling is that the list of names is very limited, and includes a former leader rejected by the electorate and a former deputy PM who resigned over a tax error only three weeks ago. And it does not include Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, who is described by Tim Shipman in his Spectator cover article today as the rising star of the Labour right. He says:
With Rayner (the slam-dunk heir apparent only a month ago) out of the way and Andy Burnham on manoeuvres (outlining his ‘vision’ on the front of the New Statesman this week), Labour MPs are starting to think that if there is going to be a leadership contest, the most impressive figure to take on the soft-left might be Mahmood, rather than Wes Streeting, hitherto the darling of the Labour right. ‘One of them has balls and the other is a man,’ says one veteran Westminster wit.
Having Tony Blair support the digital ID cards plan (see 4.27pm) won’t impress all Labour MPs, this post from the leftwinger Richard Burgon suggests.
I will not be supporting this.
Tony Blair has been pushing this agenda for more than two decades, always using one excuse or another to justify it.
It’s never been fully implemented - and we must make sure it’s stopped this time too.
Pride in Place programme to 'revitalise' high streets, government says
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, says the UK government isn’t very good at communicating its best policies. (See 3.08pm.) In a post on Bluesky Nick Plumb, from the Power to Change thinktank, suggests the government plans to “revitalise” town centres are a good example. He says:
With today’s announcement on Pride in Place, worth noting that policies such as this (it’s a rebranding & expansion of Plan for Neighbourhoods) are popular but haven’t cut through.
Same goes for community right to buy, and community energy.
And he cites this research to prove his point.
There are three main elements to the plan announced today to revitalise high streets.
Money: Under Pride in Place programme, there will be investment in more than 330 communities in England, Scotland and Wales, with corresponding spending in Northern Ireland. The spending will be decided by Pride in Place boards. The government said:
We will only approve spending if Pride in Place Boards have genuinely engaged their communities, so that community groups, local organisations and social clubs have been included in decisions on how the money should be spent.
Right to buy: There will be a community right to buy, “handing local people the power to buy beloved assets, helping them turn around derelict pubs, create new parks and regenerate treasured spaces in the heart of their communities”. And new compulsory purchase powers will allow “communities in England to acquire assets and eyesores like boarded up shops and derelict abandoned businesses, allowing new local start-ups to thrive”, the government says.
Council powers: Councils will get new powers to block “unwanted shops”, like “new betting shops, vapes stores and fake barbers”, the government says.
Burnham accused of 'financial naivety' after saying UK shouldn't be 'in hock to bond markets'
In his interview with the New Statesman published yesterday Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said:
We’ve got to get beyond this thing of being in hock to the bond markets.
He did not elaborate on exactly what he meant by this, but he was making a general point about the need for “wholesale change” in the way the country is governed.
As Pippa Crerar points out, govenment figures are accusing Burnham of a reckless approach to borrowing. (See 1.48pm.) The Telegraph is running a story saying Keir Starmer’s allies are claiming he would be “Labour’s Liz Truss”. And the FT quotes a Starmer ally as saying: “It’s like telling someone on a ledge not to worry about gravity.”
The Burnham remark has gone down badly in the City. Mark Dowding, chief investment officer for fixed income at RBC BlueBay Asset Management, told the Financial Times:
I think this speaks to his own financial naivety. Market confidence would sour very quickly. Yields would rise and the pound would also likely be under pressure.
On social media Tom McTague, the editor of the New Statesman who wrote the Burnham interview containing the original quote, posted this explaining Burnham’s thinking.
Burnham believes there are 2 core reasons we’re so vulnerable to bond markets:
1. We’ve lost control of pub spending through privatisation
2. FPTP creates fragile govts unable to reform the system
So: Fix both to end Britain’s structural vulnerability, *not* ignore it.
But Paul Johnson, the former head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, was not impressed. He said:
The bond markets are simply the people and institutions who lend government money. We can avoid being “in hock” to them by reducing borrowing. We struggle now because our borrowing and debt are extremely high. Mr Burnham wants to increase borrowing.
Blair's thinktank says digital ID could be 'one of most important steps taken by any government to make lives easier'
Tony Blair has been pushing ID cards for 20 years. When he was prime minister, his government passed legislation for a voluntary ID card scheme shortly before he stood down. But the scheme was only just being implemented when the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition took office, and they scrapped it with glee.
In recent years Blair’s thinktank, the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) has been arguing for a digital version.
Responding to reports that Keir Starmer is about to announced that he is going ahead with this idea (see 4.14pm), Alexander Iosad, the TBI’s director of government innovation, said:
Make no mistake, if the government announces a universal digital ID to help improve our public services, it would be one of the most important steps taken by this or any government to make British citizens’ everyday lives easier and build trust.
How we experience government could be about to transform, for the better. Not only can digital ID help us to tackle illegal migration, but done correctly and responsibly, it can open the door to a whole new model of services that come to you when you need them.
Our polling released just days ago shows that not only do 62% of Brits spanning the whole spectrum of politics want digital ID, but that they want it to do more than just prove who they are. Digital ID can and should be a gateway to government services whether that’s reporting potholes or even voting.
Updated
Starmer expected to announce plans for digital ID cards
Keir Starmer is expected to set out plans for every adult to have digital ID cards in an attempt to tackle illegal migration to the UK, Rowena Mason reports.
Former Daily Mirror editor Alison Phillips appointed chief executive of Labour Together
Alison Phillips, a former editor of the Daily Mirror, has been appointed as chief executive of Labour Together, the thinktank once run by Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.
She will replace the former Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth, who has been in the job since he lost his seat at the general election.
Phillips said:
Labour Together is a hugely important organisation, serving the party in its work to make ordinary people’s lives better. I am extremely proud to join this incredible team as we enter a new phase in Labour Together’s history. And to play my part in ensuring Labour continues to make the change people are seeking across the UK.
Working at the Daily Mirror constantly reminded me of the decency, resilience and compassion that lies within the vast majority of British people – it is these people, their concerns and hopes which will be at the centre of our thinking at Labour Together.
Labour Together is at the centre of a controversy generated by the publication of new evidence relating to the thinktank’s failure to declare donations worth £740,000 that were received before 2021. Peter Walker has an explainer here.
Another Labour MP has been on social media having a go at Andy Burnham. This is from Oliver Ryan, MP for Burnley.
I see Andy Burnham’s prospects are all over the news again, he’ll hate that...
Starmer’s head of communications Steph Driver quits in latest No 10 exit
Keir Starmer’s head of communications, Steph Driver, has announced she is leaving Downing Street, the latest in a series of trusted aides to the prime minister who have quit No 10 in recent months, Pippa Crerar reports.
Labour would regain lead over Reform UK with Burnham as leader, poll suggests
Labour would regain its lead over Reform UK with Andy Burnham as leader, a poll suggests. More in Common carried out the polling, first published in the New Statesman’s Morning Call newsletter.
Commenting on the poll, Luke Tryl, More in Common’s UK director, says:
All usual caveats about hypothetical polling; king across the water syndrome and as the launch (?) of your party shows things don’t always go the way hypothetical polling might assume. Instead I think real take away is less about leaders and that there are gettable Labour votes
Looking at voter flows confirms that biggest chunk is winning back voters who currently say they don’t know, likely disappointed left, along with some Lib Dem and Tory switchers. Reform vote changes very little however with a change of leader.
This chart illustrates Tryl’s point about voter flows.
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has argued that it would be a misake to write off Keir Starmer’s chances of electoral recovery. Asked about the apparent challenge to his leadership from Andy Burnham, she told Sky News:
We have seen this film a few times before. When Keir ran for the leadership, people said that Labour couldn’t come back from the catastrophic defeat at the 2019 election, then people said he couldn’t overturn that huge Conservative majority.
He won a landslide victory just over a year ago, and Keir and the whole government are focusing on the change that the country voted for …
In the same way that this government are delivering change, I know that Andy is focused on delivering change in Greater Manchester.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar says Starmer's government has been poor at communicating its successes
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has criticised Keir Starmer’s government for not properly promoting its successes.
Speaking to journalists in Scotland, Sarwar was also lukewarm in his support for the prime minister, refusing to engage in a question about whether he had full confidence in him.
Speaking about Starmer, Sarwar said:
[Starmer] has got a really difficult job, we have made significant progress in the last year.
If I’ve got one single biggest criticism of a UK Labour government, it is there have been huge successes, but very few people have been told about them or know about them.
Asked if he had full confidence in Starmer, Sarwar replied:
I think to be even talking in those terms is frankly ridiculous. This is a prime minister who won a historic victory, removed the Tories from office, won a huge landslide, and now he has to get on with the day job.
Sarwar said it was John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, who needed to be removed from his job in the Scottish parliamentary elections next May.
Asked if Starmer was the right person to be prime minister when that election takes place, Sarwar avoided the question, saying:
I think John Swinney is the worst person to be in Bute House and we need someone new in Bute House and that will come at the election in May.
Asked again if Starmer was the right person to be PM, Sarwar replied:
He is the prime minister doing a really important job and he’s got to continue to do that job to improve the country.
Crown court backlog in England and Wales hits new record of almost 80,000 cases
The crown court backlog in England and Wales has risen by 10% to a new record of almost 80,000 cases, while wait times for trial dates have reached up to four years, Matthew Weaver reports.
Fire Brigades Union says it is backing Powell for deputy Labour leader to show 'leadership must change direction'
The Fire Brigades Union has announced it has endorsed Lucy Powell for deputy Labour leader. Steve Wright, the FBU’s general secretary, said:
Austerity and authoritarianism are a road to nowhere but misery for working people. If Labour does not deliver the change it promised, this will be a one term government.
The FBU supports Lucy Powell’s call to scrap the two-child benefit cap, as well as her support for the full delivery of the employment rights bill. We urge her, and all Labour MPs, to go further – to end austerity and introduce a wealth tax.
That’s why our union is backing Lucy Powell as deputy leader – to send a clear message that the leadership must change direction.
Unite says it won't endorse candidate for deputy Labour leader because Phillipson and Powell offering 'more of same'
Unite, the most leftwing of the major unions affiliated to Labour, has said that it is not going to endorse either Bridget Phillipson or Lucy Powell for deputy leader.
It says it will “not support the status quo or someone who has openly attacked Unite members during the Birmingham bin dispute”.
That is a reference to Phillipson being the “status quo” candidate in that she is still in cabinet as education secretary, and Powell criticising Unite when responding to a question about the bin strike during her time as leader of the Commons. (“I have no problem in saying that the trade union Unite needs to step up, get back round the table and come to an agreement,” Powell said in April.)
Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, said:
Britain needs change, not more of the same. Workers are leaving labour in droves and tinkering will not stem the tide. Unfortunately, this election does not offer the alternative that Britain needs. For everyday people, it is irrelevant.
Labour must deliver real change. We need huge investment into our crumbling infrastructure and our public services, a pay rise for British workers and end to the private profiteering that helps drive inflation.
This decision will not stop Unite members having the chance to vote in the election. But, if their feelings match those of the union’s leadership, many of them may decide not to bother filling in the ballot paper.
Updated
Labour MP claims it's 'fanciful' to think Burnham would definitely get nominations needed to launch leadership bid
In his Telegraph story about his Andy Burnham interview, Tony Diver quotes some anonymous government/Labour sources criticising him. One “government source” said:
Some politicians like governing and some would prefer to give interviews, and this all feels a bit desperate to be quite honest. I hope [Burnham] will either come up with credible ideas or manage to regain his interest in his current job as mayor of Manchester.
And one “former colleague” told Diver: “[Burnham] doesn’t like doing the difficult stuff. Keir [Starmer] can be ruthless, but not Andy.”
Since then some of Burnham’s criticis have gone public. This morning the Labour MP Neil Coyle posted this on social media, commenting on a tweet with a headline saying some MPs were urging Burnham to run for leader.
Not me. The annual ‘Burnham wants to be leader’ headlines just before conference are more grating this year. He didn’t take on the guy who oversaw Labour’s worst defeat in a century & facilitated antisemitism, but pops up now under a huge majority & with 4 years to go?! No ta.
In an interview with the World at One, Coyle went further. He said:
Every year we get this nonsense that Andy wants to be PM and doesn’t want to be mayor of Manchester. I think if I was a voter, I’d be sick to the back teeth of hearing he doesn’t want to be the leader of my city, he wants a different job.
Instead of working with the Labour government, he looks like he’s part of the sideshow, distractions, that upset a lot of our members.
He’s harking back to a time when maybe he did have more support in the parliamentary Labour party in the Corbyn years when there were so few of us.
The idea that Andy Burnham’s got 80 [Labour MPs] ready and waiting to sign up to a leadership bid were he able to even find a seat and get back into Westminster … it’s all a bit fanciful.
Coyle is referring to the number of nominations Burnham would need to stand for leader, assuming he were able to return to parliament by finding a vacant parliamentary seat, winning the selection and winning the byelection.
Sam Coates from Sky News says there has been a change in thinking about how to respond to the Burnham challenge in Labour leadership circles.
Seems like there’s been a big switch in gvt approach to Burnham
Last night / at 6am it appeared to be don’t acknowledge, don’t engage, just mock or belittle
Now its tasers to fire, engage on the subject / substance and ministers go for the man himself
Quite why they didn’t get there quicker…
My colleague Pippa Crerar has an example of how the anti-Burnham briefing is ramping up here. She is referring to a Burnham quote in the Tom McTague interview in the New Statesman.
“We’ve got to get beyond this thing of being in hock to the bond markets,” Andy Burnham told @TomMcTague.
These remarks causing real annoyance inside government.
“What does that even mean? Pay off the debts we owe them quicker by spending less on public services or ignoring them entirely?” one says.
Starmer allies suggest Burnham’s plans are irresponsible and could risk a Liz Truss style bond market meltdown if he ever got to put them in place.
Updated
Two Labour councillors in Stockport, Joe Barratt and his mother, Rosemary Barratt, have left the party and are now sitting as independents, the Manchester Evening News reports. In a statement explaining his decision, Joe Barratt says Keir Starmer is not providing the right leadership. He says:
I do not believe that the current leadership fully grasps the scale of change needed to reverse the decline of our country – what Andy Burnham has rightly described as the “complete rewiring of Britain.
Labour should be looking to figures like him, who have delivered tangible change at local and regional level, if it is to restore the trust and faith in the party, and in politics, that has been so badly lost at a national level.
The Times is reporting today that the government’s child poverty taskforce will urge Keir Starmer to scrap the two-child benefit cap. In their story, Steven Swinford and Chris Smyth report:
Sir Keir Starmer will be told by senior cabinet ministers that lifting the two-child cap is the most effective way of alleviating child poverty amid mounting pressure from ministers and backbenchers.
The Times has been told that a body of ministers and officials set up to tackle child poverty will recommend lifting the cap after concluding it is the best way to alleviate the problem.
The recommendations from the child poverty taskforce are expected before the autumn budget on November 26, although it has been repeatedly delayed.
It will present a significant dilemma for Starmer and Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, as they attempt to balance the books and fill a £20 billion to £30 billion black hole in the public finances. Lifting the cap would cost an estimated £3 billion a year.
This is in line with expectations. The taskforce has been taking evidence from experts, and in the social policy world the argument that getting rid of the cap would be the single best measure to alleviate child povery is more or less a consensus view. It was more or less inevitable that the taskforce was going to reach this conclusion.
But the Treasury will find it hard raising the money to pay for this. When Labour MPs blocked cuts to the Pip (personal independence payment) disability benefit in July, some of them were told they had just “spent” the money that would have funded abolition of the two-child benefit cap.
And there is another problem for Starmer. Even though getting rid of the two-child benefit cap is popular in Labour circles, amongst the public at large people are in favour of keeping it by more than two to one, polling suggests.
Unison and GMB back Bridget Phillipson for deputy Labour leader
Two of the biggest unions affiliated to Labour, Unison and the GMB, have backed Bridget Phillipson for deputy leader of the party.
Explaining why they were backing Phillipson, the education secretary, Linda Hobson, chair of Unison’s Labour link committee, said:
The Labour party was fortunate to have two such strong candidates standing for deputy leader.
Bridget will be a strong, persuasive and passionate voice at the top of the party to help steer the change that people voted for.
She has a clear understanding of unions and will be a powerful voice for Unison members working across public services.
And Gary Smith, GMB general secretary, said:
We are pleased to nominate Bridget Phillipson for Labour deputy leader.
We’re proud that she’s been a GMB member for 20 years.
GMB represents more than 100,000 school support staff.
Labour’s pledge to reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body is vital in delivering a fairer playing field of wages and qualifications for people who have been undervalued for far too long.
Union endorsements can have some influence in Labour leadership contest, but the impact is limited because union members who get a vote are under no obligation to vote in line with the recommendation from their union executive.
According to one count, Phillipson’s rival Lucy Powell, the former Commons leader, is ahead in terms of nominations from CLPs (constituency Labour parties).
Phillipson is seen as the candidate favoured by No 10, while Powell is picking up support from members who have some concerns about Keir Starmer’s leadership.
NHS will need to pay more for drugs to stop pharma companies leaving UK, science minister Patrick Vallance suggests
An increase in the price the NHS pays for medicines will be “necessary” to prevent pharmaceutical investments from continuing to leave the UK, science minister Patrick Vallance has said. PA Media says:
Major firms have shelved or paused planned UK pharmaceutical industry investments this year, and industry bosses recently told MPs a “difficult” environment and pressure on pricing had made Britain a less attractive investment environment than other countries such as the US.
US-based drugmaker Merck said its UK operation will scrap plans for a £1bn site in London’s Kings Cross which had been due to open in 2027, impacting around 125 jobs, with bosses blaming the Government for paying too little for medicines and not investing enough in the sector.
Days later, AstraZeneca announced it had paused plans to invest £200m at a Cambridge research site.
Vallance told the BBC, in an interview aired on its Today programme, that “day by day” discussions are happening with the industry and the US to find a solution “that’s right for innovation, right for getting companies into the UK, and right for patients in the NHS”.
He said: “I’ve got no doubt we’ll come to some arrangement which gets to the right position on this, because we have to – I think price increases are going to be a necessary part of what we need to do to get to a solution which will benefit patients.”
It is for the health secretary and chancellor to decide where the money comes from, he added.
Farage steps up calls for Bank of England to halt bond sales
Nigel Farage, the Reform Uk leader, has stepped up calls for the Bank of England to halt bond sales and cut the interest it pays to UK banks, after a meeting with its governor, Andrew Bailey. Heather Stewart has the story.
Burnham says two-child benefit cap 'absolutely abhorrent', as pressure grows for Starmer to scrap it
We have just launched a Guardian video in which Terri White looks at child poverty, and the case for getting rid of the two-child benefit cap. It includes an interview with Andy Burnham in which he says:
I never supported its introduction. It can’t be defended, because it’s arbitrary. Why does the third kid just get cut out, or get less, or why do all three, if you’ve got three kids – I’m one of three kids.
It’s absolutely abhorrent. It cannot be justified. It is the worst of Westminster.
Burnham’s comments have come out as more than 100 Labour MPs have signed a letter to the chancellor urging her to scrap the two-child benefit cap. PA Media says:
Getting rid of the cap could be paid for with a “targeted levy on harmful online gambling products”, which would “support the government’s manifesto pledge to reduce gambling-related harm and enable vital action to alleviate child poverty”, the MPs wrote.
They argued that the UK’s effective tax rate on remote gambling “is significantly lower than in many comparable jurisdictions”.
Betting companies “remain highly profitable”, they said, while employing relatively few people and often basing operations offshore to lower their tax bills.
Consumer spend on gambling brings little value to the UK economy as a whole, they added.
The parliamentarians cited a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research, backed by former prime minister Gordon Brown, which said reforms to gambling levies could generate the £3.2bn needed to scrap the two-child limit and benefit cap.
ITV’s Joel Hills has more on this story here.
UPDATE: Here is our full story on the Burnham interview with the Guardian.
Updated
'My head is here' - Burnham tells Manchester, despite leadership talk, he's committed to city
Burnham ended his phone-in saying:
My head is here [Manchester]. I just want everyone listening to know that.
Burnham criticises media for not challenging Reform UK over 'false promises' that made about immigration during Brexit
In his BBC Radio Manchester phone-in Andy Burnham also attacked Reform UK over Brexit. He said:
The people who lead Reform are the leading voices that said Brexit would solve everything when it comes to immigration.
They made that promise to the country, didn’t they? They stood there and they said that, as well as it would save X amount of money for the NHS.
So here we are 10 years on and I would say immigration control is weaker because of what they proposed, the false promises they made 10 years ago at that referendum.
They weakened immigration control because they weakened our collaboration with the rest of Europe.
And what they actually did was they replaced the type of immigration we had from Europe, which was more short-term immigration, with a different type of of long term immigration.
So when are they actually ... going to accept some responsibility for the situation that they have created?
Burnham also criticised the media for not challenging Reform UK over this.
I don’t see the media holding Reform, its leadership, to account on those issues. I don’t hear the challenge being made to Mr Farage and Mr Tice when they come on and put these big things out around immigration, that would actually cause quite a lot of concern to a lot of British families. Where is the challenge back to them?
Burnham condemns Reform UK's plan to end indefinite leave to remain
Asked what he thought of the Reform UK plan to end indefinite leave to remain, Burnham said that he did not think these plans were fair to people who have been living in the UK for a long time. His wife was from Holland, he said.
He said he did not think Reform had thought this through.
He went on:
Do they really think it’s it’s fair to deny rights to people who’ve been here a long time, who were settled here, and who have paid taxes for many, for many years?
I think that’s starting to take Britain to a different place, to be honest, to the place we’ve been before.
Burnham says Home Office spending on taxis for asylum seekers as revealed by BBC not acceptable
Sweeney asked Burnham about the revelation from a BBC investigation this week that the Home Office is spending large sums on taxis for asylum seekers. In one case, the Home Office spent £600 on a 250-mile taxi journey for an asylum seeker visiting a GP where they were previously staying.
Burnham said he had not seen the BBC report. But, when it was explained to him, he said this was wrong. He said:
I don’t consider that acceptable because that isn’t obviously what’s available to to everybody else. And I don’t understand why that would be done.
The next question for Andy Burnham came from a woman with a complaint about a change to the bus route she uses for work. Burnham responde sympathetically and knowledgeably. In his New Statesman interview published yesterday, Tom McTague described Burnham taking part in one of these weekly radio shows. His description sums up well what we are hearing today.
Burnham faces a few questions from the presenter about his political ambitions, but for almost every caller, the main issues are much more prosaic: closed bus routes and disabled parking, new train stations and Right to Buy. I picture a medieval king receiving petitions from his people.
Burnham says it's 'disappointing' that proposed new Manchester-Liverpool rail line being delayed
Sweeney asked about Northern Powerhouse Rail, and reports it is being shelved again.
Burnham said these reports were “disappointing”.
He said he thought Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, wanted the north to deliver on its ambitions.
But he said it felt as if projects in the south get priority.
It feels always that projects in the southern half the country are green lighted but often red lighted up here.
He said people in the north should not have to accept second or third-class infrastructure. They should get services like the Elizabeth line, he said.
The next caller is called Chris.
Q: If you become Labour leader, it will be a poisoned chalice. The party seems to be split. If I were you, I would stick where you are. But I would love to see you as Labour leader?
Burnham thanks Chris. He repeated the point about how he was just giving an honest answer to the Telegraph.
He said the priority was for the party to get a proper plan. The stakes were high, he said.
Sweeney is now posing questions from listeners.
Q: Are you distracted from sorting out the bus strike in Manchester?
Burnham said the bus services had improved a lot in Manchester.
He said he was “sympathetic” to the drivers.
But what they were asking for was “quite significantly above what’s been agreed elsewhere”.
Burnham says he will support Labour 'in whatever way I can'
Burnham said he could not ignore what was happening in Westminster.
But ultimately it was for MPs to decide what happens to the party, he said.
He added:
I’m here to support the party in whatever way I can.
Burnham claims he is 'completely committed' to his Greater Manchester mayoral job
Q: What would you do if an MP offered to make a parliamentary seat available to you?
Burnham said he would not answer a hypothetical question.
He went back to his point about wanting to see a plan for the government, and about that mattering more than personalities.
Q: But if Keir Starmer read your comments, he would feel miffed. He would think you were undermining him. What do you say to that?
Burnham said he would say only a few days ago he was working “hard behind the scenes to land the Hillsborough law”, to get the plans in a form that would be acceptable to the families.
He said people do not feel the government is on their side.
That is what the party needs to do, “before you talk about any personality”.
Q: What would you say to people in Manchester who say you are not focused on the city any more?
Burnham said he would say he is here.
I would say to [callers to the programme] I’m here because I’m focused on here, and I’m about to take all of your calls, as I did last week.
And I am working, as I’ve always done, in dealing with the issues that affect people here. And I think that commitment I make to this programme is proof of that.
And I love everything about this job. I love what’s happening here in Greater Manchester. I’m completely committed to it.
Burnham defends leadership comments to Telegraph, saying he 'gave an honest answer'
Mike Sweeney started his Radio Manchester interview by asking if Burnham was campaigning to replace Keir Starmer.
Burnham said, when he left Westminster, he “took a vow not to speak in code”.
He was asked a question, and gave an honest answer.
But he also said it was not up to him; the leadership was a matter for MPs in parliament, he said.
And he said he told the Telegraph it was not about personalities; it was about having a proper plan for the country.
He said he did tell the Telegraph that he was ready to support the PM in getting that plan together.
He said again he “gave an honest answer”. Sometimes it feels the Westminster world cannot deal with that, he said.
Andy Burnham is being interviewed by Mike Sweeney on BBC Radio Manchester now. You can listen here.
Reed calls Burnham 'regional politician' as he says Starmer has seen off people taking 'pot shots' at him before
Here are some more quotes from the Steve Reed interviews this morning where the housing secretary suggested Andy Burnham should stick to his day job. Reed was one of the Labour MPs backing Keir Starmer as a future leader well before the 2019 general election because they were appalled by Corbynism, and this group are not fans of Burnham, not least because they think by botching his own leadership bid in 2015 he let Jeremy Corbyn take over the party.
Reed described Burnham as “regional politician”. In an interview with BBC Breakfast, asked to respond to the Burnham policy ideas (see 9.57am), Reed said:
[Burnham] is entitled, as a leading regional politician to make his case and I think he’s doing a fantastic job as mayor of Manchester.
Reed dismissed the prospects of a Burnham leadership bid as “tittle-tattle in the papers”.
He said Keir Starmer had seen off people taking “pot shots” at him before. When it was put to him that Burnham was not just setting out ideas, Reed said:
People have taken potshots at Keir Starmer before. As I said, when it happened in opposition, he picked this party up off the floor and he led us through a record breaking general election victory.
He said Labour should be talking “to the country, not to ourselves”.
Burnham calls for council tax rebanding, so expensive homes pay more, and possible revival of 50p tax rate for top earners
In his New Statesman interview published yesterday Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, set out some of the policy ideas he thought the government should be adopting.
Here are some more that he floated in his Telegraph interview.
Council tax rebanding, so that people living in the largest homes pay more. There is widespread agreement that the current system is overly-generous to people living in the most valuable homes, because they pay much less council tax as a share of the property’s value. Burnham said there was a “huge underpayment of tax that should now be corrected”. He explained:
If you look at London, I think there are people in homes that are even in double-figure millions paying less council tax than people [in Manchester]. It’s just not justifiable … where something is like that, it needs fixing.
The Economist recently published an article with this chart making Burnham’s point.
Reintroducing the 50p top rate of income tax. Burnham said there was “definitely a case” for this.
And tax cuts for lower earners. Burnham said higher taxes for top earners should be combined with cuts for poorer people. He said:
I would urge the chancellor to consider a tax change at the other end. The 10p tax, I think, was actually one of the really innovative and quite interesting things that the Labour government did.
More focus on technical education, based on the “Greater Manchester baccalaureate” scheme he has initiated.
Updated
Steve Reed says Andy Burnham should stick to his Manchester job as mayor revives speculation about leadership bid
Good morning. The Labour party conference starts on Sunday and today Keir Starmer is making what is in effect the first important conference policy offer: levelling-up style plans to “revitalise” run-down high streets.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published some of the details in a news release. Kiran Stacey has a fuller run-down in the Guardian’s splash.
And Starmer will be speaking about these proposals in a series of regional TV interviews that will “drop” (journo-speak for be broadcast or published, when the embargo is lifted) at 6pm tonight.
But there is another Labour policy offer on the table today.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, gave an interview to the New Statesman published yesterday in which he said the country needed “wholesale change”. Today the Daily Telegraph has published another Burnham interview and, as Eleni Courea reports, in its he says Labour MPs are urging him to challenge the prime minister.
The last time the Telegraph talked up the prospects of a metro mayor with ambitions for higher office, we ended up with Boris Johnson as prime minister. It is entirely possible – perhaps even likely – that the Burnham leadership challenge will never materialise. But there is some substance to it; it is more than just three excitable, anonymous MPs and journalists out to flame up a story.
Steve Reed, the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, has been giving media interviews this morning. He has been talking about the plan to revive high streets but he has had to respond to the latest Burnham comments too. He was tactful, but the message still came through; essentially, he was telling Burnham to get back in his box. This is what he told Times Radio
Andy is playing a great role already. He’s the mayor of Greater Manchester and he’s doing an incredible job there, if you look at what they’re doing on homelessness or what they’re doing working with local health services. He will keep doing that work, because that is the commitment he gave until the end of his term … He’s given a commitment. I’m sure he wouldn’t break it.
Burnham is one his third term as Greater Manchester mayor, and the next elections are not due until 2028. Reed was essentially telling him to stick to the day job until then.
I will post more on the Reed and Burnham interviews shortly.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, and Richard Tice, his deputy, have a meeting with the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey. Bailey agreed to meet them to discuss their proposal for the government to save billions by cutting the interest paid on QE deposits held by commercial lenders, but Farage and Tice also reportedly want to argue for an interest rate cut.
9.30am: The Ministry of Justice publishes figures on the court backlog in England and Wales. And the ONS is publishing figures on the extent of stalking.
Noon: John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, takes questions from MSPs at Holyrood.
Afternoon: The Cabinet Office releases data about gifts and hospitality received by ministers and special advisers.
6pm: The BBC and ITV regional stations are due to broadcast interviews with Keir Starmer, recorded earlier in the day but embargoed until 6pm.
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