Andy Burnham

My predictions of some of the changes are:

Higher taxation for most working people (despite his promise to help us all with the cost of living) - Basically, anyway they can think of to introduce more tax to prop up the benefits bill.

Reform/ replace Council tax - penalising those living in the south (regardless of their income).

Reform inheritance tax (so we end up being able to leave even less to our kids).

Scrap the triple lock (Labour seems to really dislike pensioners).

Basically his solution to all our problems will be higher taxation and more borrowing.

The Guardian says Burnams plan is to end homelessness…
i want homelessness to end too but perhaps theremay be other things that could be prioritised…. Cost of living crisis, NHS, youth unemployment, climate change just to name a few

He’s not having the summer off. He’s about to embark on a tour of the UK to listen to voters. He donated 15% of his mayoral salary to a homelessness charity.

Ok, I’ll clarify what I meant what in that it’s not a literal coup, I understand the process was legally allowed. I’m talking about the way Burnham was put into power which to me looked like organised internal power struggle, which is why I think the comparison is fair even if it was technically legal. I know it’s our system but I didn’t like the way it was done.

He wants summer off!
Why work when you've got a lovely pay rise. (Actually it might not be a pay rise, as he was taking money for PCC and Manchester Mayor.)

Do you object to anybody that doesn't work occupying council housing or just Somalians? If it's everyone, where would you plan to house British non-working people?

Starmers acceptance speech was based on a decade of renewal and changing politics blah blah blah.

A 10 year plan sounds sensible, realistic rather than everything will be brilliant tomorrow.

Looks like it. I am too.

You are seriously asking that!?

How was Burnham becoming leader any more of a coup than any other MP taking over?

Hmm

I’m interested to hear his approach to social care. He has first hand experience of this in his own family. Hoping for a sensible and fair approach to this issue.

Winter is coming.

Having a 10-year plan seems optimistic given how long recent Prime Ministers have been in office!

Quite grudgingly because of the way it was done, I do too.

I still haven’t quite got over the coup type method we’ve just seen. I am a former Labour voter and hope that he will bring me back through his policies.

I like the focus on housing as the link between that and the welfare cost of housing is clear. I agree with more state control on essential public services. I hope he will be pragmatic regarding oil and gas licensing as long as we USE oil and gas the emissions and contribution to climate change happen wherever it is e tracked from. I really hope that he will do as well as he hopes and especially that his parliamentary colleagues don’t turn against him at the first disagreement.

Also - will be disappointed if he changes Dan Jarvis and Shabana Mahmood. It’s ridiculous the ministerial turnarounds without time to actually achieve anything.

So many of Thatchers policies showing themselves up for how terrible many of us of that era knew at the time. Can’t turn the clock back but with such a huge majority, he had the opportunity to take decisive steps.

I am keeping an open mind for now.

I am worried about the weight of expectations that are on him. He isn't the Messiah, he doesn't have any magic wands and he will be inheriting an incredibly challenging in-tray. There is no money to spend either. It would be incredibly easy for anyone in his shoes to fail in this scenario. Indeed, it seems almost impossible for anyone to succeed at the pace and to the extent that the electorate may be expecting.

But I am an optimist and I hope that he can rise to the challenge and do enough to keep people on board/give them some hope that things will get better.

I believe that Burnham has the very best of intentions. He wants to drive radical change to make people's lives better. And I think he is at least as competent as any of the other PMs that we have had in recent years. But the job of governing isn't easy and I worry that people's expectations are unrealistic.

I remember hearing an elderly chap in a cafe about a week after Starmer's election victory, loudly bemoaning the fact that he had voted for change and yet nothing had actually changed. It made me realise that, to some extent, we may have become ungovernable.

Being PM is such a thankless task. I don't envy Burnham as he starts to realise the sheer enormity of the mountain that he has to climb and the lack of grace that will be afforded to him if he doesn't start delivering immediately.

He makes me feel very optimistic. I’ve not felt like that about a politician for a very long time.

If only

As soon as I heard that he’s closely aligned to Ed Milliband, it put me right off him. Apparently he has a plan to help us all with the cost of living. I just know it will be a load of bollocks and his plan will just involve taxing working people even more. It’s the Labour way.

Perhaps he could do something about council housing being occupied by people that don’t work, rather than just build more houses. Tbh I don’t understand why we have a significant swathe of unemployed somalians living in free housing, in the UK. Could someone explain why they aren’t just sent home?

SPADs are the key. I wonder who is on his advisory team. The SPAD for Starmer had to leg it pdq. Hmm.

It is almost impossible to achieve. But at least he seeks to try to do so. Better that than giving up because something is hard to do.

Obviously. But the Labour Party is aligned with my core beliefs, and the Reform Party isn’t. So I have no problem in agreeing that Labour’s plan is better.