Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics.
Andy Burnham, the lead contender to succeed prime minister Keir Starmer, has hinted at some of his tax proposals as he draws up plans to revitalise Britain’s high streets.
In his first interview since being elected MP for Makerfield, Burnham told LBC there is “some room” in the Labour manifesto for “movement on tax”. While he reaffirmed his commitment to “stick” to the promises made by the manifesto of not raising income tax, VAT or national insurance personal contributions, he suggested there was flexibility for other taxes to rise, such as business rates on warehouses.
“I stick by the manifesto and the promises that it made. So, let me be absolutely clear about that, but there is some room within that manifesto for movement on tax,” he said.
“So if you take business rates, for instance, I believe there is a case for higher business rates on warehouses and the major developments we see on the outskirts of our cities, so that we can cut business rates for pubs, and I’ve proposed a 20 per cent cut and lift some high street businesses out of business rates altogether.”
He added that he wanted to prioritise and reward businesses that “bring social benefit and bring people together”, listing bars, restaurants, coffee shops and hairdressers.
“The high street really needs to get more of our attention,” he said.
Also in the interview last night, he promised to ease the cost of living if he becomes prime minister, saying he would look at bringing down water and energy costs by de-privatising companies and making bus travel free for 16- to 18-year-olds.
You can read our write-up of that interview here:
Burnham is expected to answer more questions today from the public in a “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) on Reddit. The AMA event on the r/UKPolitics sub-reddit is scheduled to start at 5pm.
Users have written in with some questions ahead of the AMA, a number of them asking whether he would scrap the state pension triple lock. Others have asked about his plans to “re-instil [the] hope so many of us had back in 2024”, his thoughts on the “future with our relationship with the US”, and his “favourite flavour of crisps”.