Burnham Floats £100bn Utility Overhaul and 20% Rates Cut After Makerfield Win
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Jun 19
Burnham Floats £100bn Utility Overhaul and 20% Rates Cut After Makerfield Win
3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Jun 19
Summary
Andy Burnham used his Makerfield by-election victory to sketch a potential leadership platform built around lower household bills, revived industrial policy and tighter public control of key services.
His ideas include stronger public control of water, energy and transport, a 20% business-rates cut for pubs and music venues, and a return of HS2’s Birmingham-Manchester leg, last priced at £36bn.
Burnham also backed a major council-house push by redirecting Labour’s £39bn affordable housing programme, and revived his call for a national care levy as social-care reform could cost £7bn to £17bn by 2035/36.
The agenda is constrained by his pledge to keep Rachel Reeves’s fiscal rules and Labour’s promises not to raise income tax, VAT or National Insurance main rates, limiting room for new spending without cuts elsewhere.
He has also signaled selective breaks with the current government line, questioning the employer National Insurance rise worth £16.1bn by 2029/30 while accepting ministers’ final decision not to compensate 3.6 million Waspi women.