Monday 26 October 2026 10:52 am  |  Updated:  Monday 26 October 2026 10:58 am

Andy Burnham doesn’t losten to anyone but himself

By: Eliot Wilson

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Burnham strives to appear inclusive but he ignores the voice of industry and defence. Signs are emerging that this is a government which doesn’t listen at all, says Eliot Wilson

This week will see Chancellor John Healey deliver his Budget. At 66, he will be the oldest Chancellor of the Exchequer to present a first Financial Statement and Budget Resolutions to the House of Commons. Since his appointment in July, the veteran frontbencher, first given a ministerial post in 2001, has seemed quietly resolute, even content.

Chancellor and Prime Minister alike know how important this Budget is. With Burnham taking office after the House of Commons had adjourned for the summer, and with a break for the party conferences, the government has only really had four weeks of “normality”. Burnham’s overall rating is still positive, but the margin has fallen sharply. As his honeymoon inevitably fades, voters may want to know what sort of leader he really is, what – apart from Everton FC, the Labour Party and the Catholic Church – are his lodestars and how he steers by them?

However inclusive and welcoming Burnham may strive to appear, however much he repeats his technocratic false dilemma of “problem-solving, not point-scoring” or talks about “collaboration”, the Prime Minister is not throwing open the doors of Whitehall to seek rigorous challenge or alternative policy. He knows what he thinks. Signs are emerging that this........

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