"So, Andy Burnham seems like a nice guy." Kemi Badenoch opened her first speech since the change in prime minister with what sounded like a compliment — but she was there to bury him. The Conservative leader accused the new Labour prime minister of governing like he is still the mayor of Greater Manchester, launching a "spending spree" of early promises without explaining how they would be paid for.
Burnham’s first policies include restoring a £2 cap on bus fares in England, cutting VAT on household electricity bills, reducing business rates for pubs and live music venues, and finding more accommodation for rough sleepers. The interventions are projected to cost around £1.8bn in total. The government says the plans are funded through a combination of savings, reallocation of existing budgets and future tax hikes on "anti-social businesses".
“Badenoch accused Burnham of a 'spending spree' and questioned how his £1.8bn early policies would be funded.”
But Badenoch, speaking on a rooftop terrace in central London, repeatedly questioned where the money would come from. She called on Burnham to rule out tax rises at the autumn Budget and criticised him for "floating" possible future policies such as social care free at the point of use, a huge expansion in council house building and increasing the tax-free personal allowance. "He doesn't actually know what he wants to do, he is thinking out loud," she said. "All that we know is it's going to cost a lot of money."
Even Badenoch-sceptics inside the Conservative party agree the Tory leader is becoming more confident and has forged an increasingly coherent message based on economic competence. But she faces a different opponent now. Burnham, who became Greater Manchester's first elected mayor in 2017, is more of a media natural, able to deflect jibes with self-deprecating humour — last month he went viral after Badenoch dismissed him as a "pair of eyelashes and a black T-shirt".
"She has to adapt — it's like with anything when your opponent changes," one senior Conservative said. "As a personality, Burnham is much more likable [than Keir Starmer], and comes with a fair degree of popularity. She needs to wait for weaknesses, and one immediately seems to be: where is the money coming from for all these giveaways?"
Badenoch labelled Burnham's philosophy as "cap one price and send the bill somewhere else" and called him a prime minister "with small answers to big problems". She urged him to "lift his sights to broader things", including plans to fund defence spending and lower energy costs for businesses. "Andy Burnham's ambitions for Britain are too small," she said.
Burnham, who has billed his policy blitz as a first move to give people "breathing space", told his newly assembled cabinet on Tuesday: "We need to be a cost of living government." He has also cited Greater Manchester's bus operating model as a possible template for regulating the water and energy sectors. But with Badenoch now holding regular press conferences and lengthy media Q&As, the question of how to fund his early promises looks set to dominate the political battle ahead.