Burnham: my first budget wasn't the radical one I wanted

Andy Burnham has owned up to a gap between the change he promised and the budget he actually delivered. The prime minister told ITV on Friday that his first fiscal set-piece wasn't as radical as he'd have liked, pointing to a volatile economy and external shocks including the war in Iran, which has driven up borrowing costs.

Chancellor John Healey rolled out a package of relatively inexpensive measures on Wednesday. The headline item: a £100 payment for most households to soften winter energy bills, reaching around 20 million homes. Burnham defended the scale of it, arguing that a payment to 20 million households is a significant step, and that asking banks to repay help they received roughly 20 years ago was a big call.

The budget drew criticism for falling short on defence spending, welfare cuts and cost-of-living support. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch summed up the mood from the other side of the chamber, saying most people listening would be thinking: is that it?

Burnham said his room for manoeuvre was squeezed not just by geopolitics but by Labour's 2024 manifesto, which carried the party to a landslide while ruling out hikes to income tax, national insurance and VAT. Asked directly whether he'd have written that manifesto the same way, he said no — and added that when the time comes, he would seek his own mandate.

Welfare is where he wants to go bigger. Burnham said he's aiming for changes that would keep most young people off benefits altogether, with plans to be set out in the coming months once two major reports land — one from former minister Alan Milburn, one from current minister Stephen Timms. He insisted the overhaul won't involve brutal cuts that leave people in absolute crisis, but said he doesn't want to see anyone in their 20s on benefits unless disability or other circumstances keep them out of work.

It's a notable shift in tempo for a leader who arrived in office this year vowing to end 40 years of neoliberalism, with wealth taxes and nationalisation of major utilities on the table. So far, voters have gotten smaller-bore moves — tax cuts on energy bills, cheaper bus fares, and fines for people blasting music from their phones on public transport. Burnham and Healey frame those as breathing space while the bigger plans cook.