1:02Andy Burnham ‘prepared’ to deliver radical change despite economic challenges \u2013 video\u2018I can deliver\u2019: Burnham pledges radical change on eve of Labour conferenceExclusive: UK prime minister says delivering fiscal stability would be \u2018crucial\u2019 to be able to fix bigger problemsAndy Burnham has said he can deliver on his promise of radical change for the country despite severe economic headwinds, telling the Guardian: \u201cThere\u2019s always things you can do, it\u2019s just whether you\u2019re prepared to do them.\u201dThe prime minister acknowledged the public finances were \u201cchallenging\u201d ahead of next month\u2019s budget but said that delivering fiscal stability would be \u201ccrucial\u201d, because only then would the government be able to focus on fixing bigger problems.A series of global economic shocks, including the Iran conflict, have put the UK economy under intense inflationary pressure and pushed up borrowing costs, leaving the government limited room for manoeuvre.Ahead of his first Labour conference as prime minister, however, Burnham sought to both reassure voters he was willing to make tough decisions to deliver change, and to show the markets that he could ensure fiscal stability while preparing the groundwork for more substantial change ahead.Speaking to the Guardian on the eve of his first conference as Labour leader, he said: \u201cThe public would have more respect for us if we go and grab something difficult \u2026 and say, \u2018Right, we\u2019re going to do something here\u2019, rather than constantly playing the political game before fixing the problems.\u201cIt\u2019s challenging, definitely, but there are still things that you can do. Always in politics, there are things that you can do. The question is sometimes: Are you prepared to do them? Yeah, I am prepared to do them.\u201dWhen asked about the need for a large fiscal buffer against shocks, he said the key thing was stability, indicating that he understood the need to reassure the markets, but that more radical transformation of the state would follow.\u201cI do think it is crucial to have stability and to show that there\u2019s a willingness to face up to the reality of some of these difficult things.<\/p>\n
But actually from that stability, the permission can come to make bigger change that, in the end, could put the country in a stronger position in relation to the public finances,\u201d he said.\u201cYou have to have stability, but you have to do what you can within that. You can\u2019t pursue a major programme of change, which is what I believe the country needs, in a chaotic situation.\u201dAfter ruling out holding a snap general election before 2029, Burnham said that he wanted to set out a clear path for how the country could move to a better place \u2013 and that he hadn\u2019t been spending his time \u201csitting politicking and strategising\u201d but instead was focused on fixing problems.His ambition to give people \u201ca bit more belief that things can improve\u201d across the country, he said, would not come from \u201cendlessly running elections and referendums\u201d.He denied having had any discussions with his senior team about whether to call an early election. \u201cThe speculation in no way matches the internal discussion because there isn\u2019t one,\u201d he said, rejecting claims he did not have a mandate as the public had voted for the Labour party.However, Burnham acknowledged he was hemmed in on tax and the fiscal rules of Keir Starmer\u2019s manifesto commitments, and suggested he would have done it differently had he been in charge at the time.\u201cI\u2019ve inherited those positions and, as I say, I think the main thing for me is to focus on the here and now for people, not to be self-serving about \u2018oh, what would suit me?\u2019 and playing politics. That\u2019s not where my mind is, and possibly would have framed it different, but we are where we are, you know, and that\u2019s the reality.\u201dBurnham played down speculation that Labour may give more support for energy bills, with the cap price set to soar from January. \u201cI think people need to remember that measures have already been taken,\u201d he said, referring to VAT on electricity bills being scrapped from next week.The prime minister also reiterated that while he thought the welfare bill was too high, the will among Labour MPs was \u201cnot there for crude cuts\u201d because they would push people into crisis, so a longer term approach to reform was required.After warning of the risks, as well as the opportunities of artificial intelligence at the UN last week, Burnham admitted to concerns about rogue AI agents attacking state institutions in the UK, after the Australian medicare system was hit.Burnham addressed the presence of far-right protesters on the streets of Britain, accusing Daniel Thomas, who has led black-clad anti-migrant vigilantes on the streets of some English towns, of \u201ccreating fear\u201d but did not go as far as Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, who accused him of being an \u201coutright racist\u201d.Speaking of Thomas\u2019s masked gangs, he said: \u201cI mean that\u2019s not Britain. That\u2019s not what we want to see in people\u2019s communities.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s legitimate concerns about issues, and then there is intimidation \u2013 and that is intimidation,\u201d he said.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe prime minister also addressed political funding, which has been in the spotlight since Reform UK received two record-breaking \u00a336m donations from cryptocurrency billionaires, saying that \u2013 contrary to reports \u2013 he would not rule out a domestic donations cap.\u201cYou know I think we do need to continue to have a cross-party discussion about how do we uphold trust in politics? How do we do not give the impression that politics can be bought and that people are, if you like, unduly influenced?\u201dHe was also open to looking at election spending limits, he said, which are now being examined by the Electoral Commission, adding that he has \u201creal concerns\u201d about crypto-fuelled politics.An emotional Burnham revealed that the death of his father, Roy, last week had made him more determined to deliver. \u201cI\u2019m in this job for what I can do for people, not for what it can do for me \u2026 to make the changes that my dad, for instance, long pushed me to make,\u201d he said.\u201cIt\u2019s been a hard thing, if I\u2019m honest, coming into this position in the last three months when I also knew in my heart that I was starting this journey as my dad was ending his.\u201cAlthough that\u2019s hard, and I\u2019m not seeking sympathy in saying it, I say it because the coming together of those two things increases my determination to make a difference on the things that I\u2019ve long said I want to fix.\u201dWith political courage expected to be a focus of his speech to Labour\u2019s conference in Liverpool, Burnham said he was willing to be honest with the public about what needed to happen, even if it was difficult to hear.\u201cI think the public want to see, number one, honesty about things. So not spin or putting things a certain way that\u2019s self-serving. They want honesty, and then they want, I think, difficult but real decisions,\u201d said Burnham.\u201cNot difficult decisions and making a fetish out of that, but actually grasping nettles and then moving things forward.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think politics has been prepared to do that enough in recent times.\u201dBurnham criticised previous governments for failing to tackle difficult issues such as social care, housing supply and youth unemployment, saying longer term reform was needed because there were no \u201ceasy or quick wins\u201d.He revealed there would be a new help-to-buy scheme aimed at giving first-time buyers who cannot rely on the \u201cbank of mum and dad\u201d the keys to their own home. It will be funded by reallocating existing budgets, although it is unclear which ones, rather than through extra borrowing.Burnham also said he wanted to deliver significant progress on social care reform \u2013 a manifesto commitment \u2013 before the next election. \u201cWho is going to do something to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1:02Andy Burnham ‘prepared’ to deliver radical change despite economic challenges \u2013 video\u2018I can deliver\u2019: Burnham pledges radical change on eve of Labour conferenceExclusive: UK prime minister says delivering fiscal stability would be \u2018crucial\u2019 to be\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}