Burnham backs off income tax change – so what is he planning next?

Andy Burnham has kicked off his ‘cost of living’ government with a flurry of announcements – starting with removing VAT from household energy bills and restoring the £2 cap on bus fares in England. But he has already rowed back on a potential rise in the tax-free personal allowance.

On Talking Politics, Tom Bradby and Robert Peston ask whether support is really being targeted towards those who most need it and whether it is ambitious enough to turn the country around. They also discuss his promise to end to factionalism, which coincided with a purge of the Starmerites.

Tom also asks Robert to explain exactly what ‘war bonds’ are and whether some creative government accounting could actually help solve the defence funding dilemma. Plus Robert analyses what the abolishment of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology means for AI in the UK.

00:00 Intro – Rowing back on personal tax allowance?
00:28 Promotions for Starmer quitters while Starmerites purged
05:18 ‘Not very Labour, not very ambitious’ Peston’s analysis of the VAT cut
08:48 AI minister in cabinet but department cut – why it matters
12:14 Burnham on the tax-free personal allowance
15:26 Peston on Burnham rowing back on things: “In a way, I quite like that”
22:15 Could tax-free personal allowance rise be in the budget?
27:31 What are ‘war bonds’ and could they help increase defence spending?

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22 comments

  1. Oh blimey… Here we go again! Raising the Personal Allowance would've now helped out so many people, but obviously it would hurt the Government coffers. I usually have a lot of time and respect for Robert Peston, but I think he is wrong about his thoughts on indecision. People need consistent fiscal help now, presented with clarity, and certainly not u-turns, and they definitely don't need wait-and-see politics from the latest PM💫😬💫

  3. To unfreeze personal allowances would be to sacrifice billions in projected revenue. Burnham f***ed up here. Let’s hope he doesn’t make a habit of it.

  6. Burnham & Farage are like two peas in a pod ( they both tell us what needs to done ) but both have no clue how to do it, it’s like watching Shaggy & Scooby Doo

  7. The tax on electricity was cut in line with European standards. It allows him to kill the digital ID and gives everyone a tickle. Three birds with one stone. Peston is out of his league

  8. Burnham wants to rebuild the UK and take us back to the 70's back to the working mans tax of 33% Putin wants to rebuild the soviet union of the 70's and trump wants to go back to america as an industrial giant.. in the 70s… they are all cuckoo

  11. No harm to Andy he seems a genuinely nice enough guy but it's easy to spout a lot of stuff when you've not seen the books or the mess we are still in after 14 years of complete Tory mismanagement…. Once you see it in black and white laid out in front of you in facts and figures it's a different story

  13. Burnham could raise 30b by VAT on Financial Services, NI on investment income, NI on Capital Gains, VAT on second homes, VAT on Private Education and a increase of Corperation Tax. Let's see if he has the political will to do even one of those things.

  14. There absolutely WAS a faction when Starmer was in charge – the rightwing Labour Together faction! How can you sit there with a straight face and say there wasn't????

  18. Peston saying that he wants our PM to act more like Trump in the way that he says all sorts of things that he doesn't mean is highly annoying. I'm sure he wouldn't have said that of a non Labour PM.

  19. DEAR, OOH DEAR,, HAS REALITY JUST BITE BURNHAM IN THE BUM,,,, YOU CANNOT SERVE TWO MASTERS,,,, AND IT STARTED OFF SO WELL… BUT… BALLOONS AND BUNTING DON'T LAST….

  20. The backbenchers were all in agreement with stopping the winter fuel payment for pensioners but don't want to cut the welfare payments. Is this because the pensioners are mostly white and paid their taxes while working but the welfare payments are for foreigners and schivers.( I know not all of them are but there is a massive amount who fall in these categories.

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