UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he can deliver on his promise of radical change for the country despite severe economic headwinds. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
“There’s always things you can do; it’s just whether you’re prepared to do them,” he told The Guardian.
The prime minister acknowledged public finances were “challenging” ahead of next month’s budget but said delivering fiscal stability would be “crucial”, because only then would the government be able to focus on fixing bigger problems.
A series of global economic shocks, including the Iran conflict, has put the UK economy under intense inflationary pressure and pushed up borrowing costs, leaving the government limited room for manoeuvre.
Ahead of his first Labour conference as prime minister, however, Burnham sought to reassure voters he was willing to make tough decisions to deliver change and show the markets he could ensure fiscal stability while preparing the groundwork for more substantial change ahead.
Speaking to The Guardian on the eve of his first conference as Labour leader, he said: “The public would have more respect for us if we go and grab something difficult … and say, ‘Right, we’re going to do something here’, rather than constantly playing the political game before fixing the problems.
“It’s challenging, definitely, but there are still things that you can do. Always in politics, there are things that you can do. The question is sometimes: Are you prepared to do them? Yeah, I am prepared to do them.”
When asked about the need for a large fiscal buffer against shocks, he said the key thing was stability, indicating that he understood the need to reassure the markets, but that more radical transformation of the state would follow.
“I do think it is crucial to have stability and to show that there’s a willingness to face up to the reality of some of these difficult things. But actually from that stability, the permission can come to make bigger change that, in the end, could put the country in a stronger position in relation to the public finances,” he said.
“You have to have stability, but you have to do what you can within that. You can’t pursue a major programme of change, which is what I believe the country needs, in a chaotic situation.”
After ruling out holding a snap general election before 2029, Burnham said he wanted to set out a clear path for how the country could move to a better place – and that he hadn’t been spending his time “sitting politicking and strategising” but instead was focused on fixing problems.
His ambition to give people “a bit more belief that things can improve” across the country, he said, would not come from “endlessly running elections and referendums”.
He denied having had discussions with his senior team about whether to call an early election. “The speculation in no way matches the internal discussion because there isn’t one,” he said, rejecting claims he did not have a mandate as the public had voted for the Labour party.
However, Burnham acknowledged he was hemmed in on tax and the fiscal rules of Keir Starmer’s manifesto commitments, and suggested he would have done it differently had he been in charge at the time.
“I’ve inherited those positions and, as I say, I think the main thing for me is to focus on the here and now for people, not to be self-serving about ‘oh, what would suit me?’ and playing politics. That’s not where my mind is, and possibly would have framed it different, but we are where we are, you know, and that’s the reality.”
Burnham played down speculation that Labour may give more support for energy bills, with the price cap set to soar from January. “I think people need to remember that measures have already been taken,” he said, referring to VAT on electricity bills being scrapped from next week.
The prime minister also reiterated that while he thought the welfare bill was too high, the will among Labour MPs was “not there for crude cuts” because they would push people into crisis, so a longer-term approach to reform was required.
After warning of the risks, as well as the opportunities of artificial intelligence at the UN last week, Burnham admitted to concerns about rogue AI agents attacking state institutions in the UK, after the Australian medicare system was hit.
Burnham addressed the presence of far-right protesters on the streets of Britain, accusing Daniel Thomas, who has led black-clad anti-migrant vigilantes on the streets of some English towns, of “creating fear” but did not go as far as Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, who accused him of being an “outright racist”.
Speaking of Thomas’s masked gangs, he said: “I mean that’s not Britain. That’s not what we want to see in people’s communities. There’s legitimate concerns about issues, and then there is intimidation – and that is intimidation,” he said.
The prime minister also addressed political funding, which has been in the spotlight since Reform UK received two record-breaking £36m donations from cryptocurrency billionaires, saying that – contrary to reports – he would not rule out a domestic donations cap.
“You know I think we do need to continue to have a cross-party discussion about how do we uphold trust in politics? How do we not give the impression that politics can be bought and that people are, if you like, unduly influenced?”