Burnham vows to reverse privatisation and austerity if he replaces Starmer

{"text":[[{"start":14,"text":"Andy Burnham, frontrunner to be Britain’s next prime minister, has turned his guns on half a century of “neoliberal” British economic policy, but has insisted he will not rip up the UK’s fiscal rules."}],[{"start":26,"text":"The centre-left Greater Manchester mayor, facing growing market concern after he emerged as favourite to succeed Sir Keir Starmer, vowed on Monday to reverse privatisation, austerity and deregulation."}],[{"start":39.45,"text":"But his team attempted to reassure markets that he would not embark on irresponsible borrowing policies. A Burnham spokesman said: “He supports the fiscal rules. He has no plans to change them.” "}],[{"start":51.550000000000004,"text":"The spokesman added that Burnham would not seek to exclude any defence spending from the borrowing rules, an idea that he floated last month."}],[{"start":59.50000000000001,"text":"The comments came as a YouGov poll of Labour Party members found that Burnham would beat Starmer in a head-to-head leadership contest by 59 per cent to 37 per cent. It also found the mayor would beat Wes Streeting, the former health secretary and another leadership hopeful, by 80 per cent to 10 per cent if the two went up against each other."}],[{"start":82.95,"text":"UK 10-year borrowing costs surged close to 5.2 per cent on Friday as leadership speculation mounted, to reach their highest level since 2008. They came back to 5.12 per cent on Monday after Burnham signalled a commitment to keeping within the fiscal rules. "}],[{"start":99.15,"text":"The political uncertainty has piled pressure on a market already reeling from the economic impact of the Iran war, with the IMF urging Britain to keep bearing down on debt."}],[{"start":110.05000000000001,"text":"Burnham told ITV News at the weekend: “Let me say this really clearly. I support the fiscal rules. There needs to be a plan to get debt down, but beyond that, we need to change politics.” "}],[{"start":121.85000000000001,"text":"The Greater Manchester mayor, who hopes to return to Westminster via a parliamentary by-election in Makerfield next month and then challenge Starmer for the Labour leadership, said on Monday that Britain had been “on the wrong path” since the 1980s."}],[{"start":135.70000000000002,"text":"“Forty years of trickle-down economics that did not, in the end, trickle down very much at all,” he said in a speech in Leeds, denouncing what he called “neoliberalism”."}],[{"start":146.75000000000003,"text":"Meanwhile Burnham backed away from his previous call for Britain to rejoin the EU “in my lifetime” — as he attempted to stop a row over Europe destabilising his attempts to win the Leave-voting seat of Makerfield."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":159.30000000000004,"text":"“I’m not proposing that the UK considers rejoining the EU,” he said. “I respect the decision that was made in the referendum.”"}],[{"start":167.45000000000005,"text":"In a speech in January, Burnham singled out Brexit among four culprits for the UK’s decline. “It was the four horsemen of Britain’s apocalypse: deregulation, privatisation, austerity and Brexit,” he said. On Monday, the mayor listed just the first three. "}],[{"start":184.05000000000004,"text":"Burnham’s speech came as Starmer insisted his premiership was not over, and that he would resist any attempt to topple him. He said he would not set out a timetable for leaving Downing Street, or accept that Labour wanted another leader."}],[{"start":199.05000000000004,"text":"The mayor was until recently best known to investors for his comments last September that Britain should stop being “in hock” to bond markets."}],[{"start":207.25000000000003,"text":"His economic pitch has skewed to the left, albeit with little detail. This weekend Burnham promised to increase public control over utilities, alongside a “re-industrialisation” agenda and an increase in council housebuilding, leaving some in the City of London wondering where he would find the money."}],[{"start":224.75000000000003,"text":"He argued on Monday that wealth had been “siphoned off” from working-class communities such as Makerfield."}],[{"start":230.25000000000003,"text":"One business leader said the speech had felt more like “scene setting” than an economic agenda, concluding: “TBC.”"}],[{"start":237.25000000000003,"text":"Gilt investors told the FT last week that Burnham was the most market-unfriendly of the likely candidates to replace Starmer."}],[{"start":244.75000000000003,"text":"The gilt market “may grow to like” Burnham, one investor said, but was “first likely to sell off” if he emerged triumphant from a Labour leadership race."}],[{"start":254.00000000000003,"text":"The IMF said that the UK did not have the scope to slow down efforts to cut public borrowing, as it endorsed the current trajectory which involves reducing the budget deficit by half a percentage point a year for the coming four years. "}],[{"start":268.1,"text":"“Structural realities” such as rising government interest costs and sluggish medium-term growth would define the limits of policy choices, Luc Eyraud, IMF mission chief to the UK, said. "}],[{"start":279.90000000000003,"text":"Sir Mel Stride, shadow chancellor, will say on Tuesday that households would pay a “Burnham penalty” because of higher bond yields, some of which materialised last Friday after the mayor announced he was hoping to stand for parliament in Makerfield."}],[{"start":295.95000000000005,"text":"“Andy Burnham is already costing us all money before the by-election writ has even been served,” Stride will say, claiming that the increase in bond yields on Friday — if sustained across a five-year forecast period — would amount to “nearly £300 for every working family”."}],[{"start":321.3,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1779148138_2322.mp3"}