Kemi Badenoch has accused Andy Burnham of governing like he is still the mayor of Greater Manchester, with a “spending spree” of early promises. In a speech in London on Thursday, the Conservative leader said the new prime minister had failed to explain how a series of measures announced during his first days in office could be paid for.
Burnham’s early policies include restoring a £2 cap on bus fares in England, cutting VAT on household electricity bills from 5% to 0% from October 1, reducing business rates for pubs and live music venues, and finding more accommodation for rough sleepers. Total cost: about £1.8bn. The government says the plans are funded through savings, reallocation of existing budgets and future tax hikes on “anti-social businesses”.
“Kemi Badenoch attacks Andy Burnham's early policies, questioning how £1.8bn pledges will be paid for.”
Badenoch, opening with the line “So, Andy Burnham seems like a nice guy,” questioned how the prime minister would fund his promises. “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.” She called on Burnham to rule out tax rises at the autumn Budget and to “lift his sights to broader things”, including defence spending and lowering energy costs for businesses. “Andy Burnham’s ambitions for Britain are too small,” she added.
Labour defended the announcements, saying Burnham is “bringing back hope after Kemi Badenoch’s Tory Party nearly broke Britain”. Burnham told his newly assembled cabinet on Tuesday “we need to be a cost of living government”, billing the policy blitz as a first move to give people “breathing space”.
The VAT cut on electricity also benefits electric vehicle owners. Octopus Energy’s Intelligent Octopus Go tariff currently allows home charging at 8p per kWh overnight; removing VAT could reduce the cost per mile from 1.6p to an estimated 1.52p. However, critics point out that public charging points still attract 20% VAT, widening the divide. Tanya Sinclair, chief executive of Electric Vehicles UK, said the announcement “entrenches one of the biggest inequalities in the UK’s EV transition”, adding: “Millions of drivers without off-street parking have no choice but to pay 20% VAT while those with a driveway will now pay none at all.”
On devolution, Burnham held his first in-person meeting with Scottish First Minister John Swinney on Thursday. Swinney later said the prime minister would “engage” on further devolution to Scotland, but Burnham told him a second independence referendum was “off limits”.
Even Badenoch-sceptics inside the Conservative party agree the Tory leader is becoming more confident and forging a coherent message based on economic competence. But one senior Conservative noted that Burnham, as a more media-savvy opponent, can deflect jibes with humour, as he did when Badenoch dismissed him as a “pair of eyelashes and a black T-shirt”. The challenge for Badenoch, the source said, is to “wait for weaknesses, and one immediately seems to be: where is the money coming from for all these giveaways?”