Andy Burnham, the widely expected next prime minister, has suggested increasing business rates on giant warehouses to fund tax cuts for pubs and struggling high street shops, in his first media interview since announcing his bid to lead the country.
Speaking to LBC presenter Andrew Marr, the newly elected Makerfield MP said there was “some room” for movement on tax, but insisted he would stick to Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledges not to raise VAT, income tax or national insurance. “I stick by the manifesto and the promises that it made… but there is some room within that manifesto for movement on tax,” he said.
“Andy Burnham signals warehouse tax rises to fund cuts for pubs and high street, while sticking to manifesto pledges on major taxes.”
Burnham pointed to Greater Manchester, where he said finances had been “rock solid” during his time as mayor, and defended his credibility on economic policy, vowing not to be “indisciplined” with the public finances. He faced past criticism for arguing the UK had “got to get beyond this thing of being in hock to the bond markets”, but stressed his experience as a Treasury minister in the last Labour government.
The proposed changes, announced last month during his successful by-election campaign, would give pubs, clubs and music venues a 20% cut in business rates, while raising the threshold for smaller independent hospitality, leisure and retail firms for the first time since 2017. The cuts would be paid for by higher levies on the giant warehouses operated by online firms such as Amazon, and by targeting owners of empty high street properties.
Burnham remains the only candidate in the race to replace Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader and is expected to take over as prime minister on 20 July. One of the biggest items in his in-tray will be how to fund an increase in defence spending. Sir Keir announced plans this week for a £15bn increase without spelling out where all the money would come from, meaning whoever Burnham picks as chancellor will have to find at least £4.7bn in savings from other departments.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Burnham of “running away from being asked questions” after he chose to host an “ask me anything” session on Reddit later on Friday. “Reddit is easy, he can filter which ones he wants to answer, just look at the easy questions,” she said.