Andy Burnham, likely to become Britain’s next prime minister, said on Thursday he had not yet decided who his finance minister would be in any future government and defended his record on managing public finances.
Burnham, the only Labour lawmaker so far to say he wants to replace outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, has vowed an end to trickle-down economics. Some investors have fretted over who will become finance minister and what Burnham’s leadership will mean for public finances if he takes over in two weeks, as is widely expected.
Burnham said he had not decided who would become finance minister and while people had put their case forward, he was frustrated that Westminster “wants to endlessly speculate about personalities before policy and before direction.”
“I think it’s really important that firstly people understand what is being proposed here and then consider what their contribution to delivering that new direction for the country might be,” Burnham told LBC radio.
Burnham also defended his record on the economy, pointing to previous government jobs including in the finance ministry, and his record as mayor of Greater Manchester.
“I am not indisciplined when it comes to the public finances,” he said, adding he would stick to the Labour manifesto but would look to fund tax cuts for pubs, hospitality and the high street with tax rises on other businesses.
Starmer has left his successor a fiscal headache, announcing plans to increase defence spending but leaving £4.7 billion of its funding to be set out later in the year, once he has left office.
Burnham said he didn’t have “all the details” of the Defence Investment Plan ahead of its publication as it had been part of an internal government process, but said he would fund defence as needed.
Asked if he regarded the plan as a “hand grenade” given to him by Starmer, he said: “I regard it as something that the country has to face up to very seriously.”
“I will take my responsibilities fully to fund the defence investment plan. If I’m in the position to do so, I will take those responsibilities extremely seriously,” Burnham said. “No compromise on the security of the nation.”
(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti and Alistair Smout）
