What could Andy Burnham do as PM to improve daily life?

[Seasidecatlady]

There are some negative threads about Andy Burnham this morning so I wanted to have something a bit more positive and look at what he could do, if he becomes PM, to help improve our daily lives.

For me it would be:

• re-nationalise water and utility companies and trains
• reverse the national insurance hike for businesses so they can start hiring again and do more to support small businesses in general
• a one off wealth tax to add funding to the defence budget
• reform the student loans system, improve access to apprenticeship and also do more to help job seekers over 50.

''@Thebigonesgetaway
I find threads like this and the ops post so dismaying. How on earth do we get to a stage that adults in the uk have no grasp of how government works, no idea why there are whole parties of mps, or opposing parties and think it’s a dictatorship where someone becomes prime minister and just does things.
we need to better educate people.''

Could you be anymore patronising?

Andy Burnham isn’t PM yet. If he ever will be who knows?

He will be.

Blimey who knew I was thick?

I mean, I DO think people who are good at maths and science are really clever and they are usually (not always) very good at the arts and humanities as well, but we do also need eg lawyers and accountants and geographers and actually if we had more people doing things like politics and media studies we might be in a better situation as a country (and everyone should be doing at least one foreign language to 16, it is shambolic how bad we are at languages).

Perfectly capable of grasping all that, thanks, but we are allowed to say what we'd like. And PMs have quite a lot of influence.

Whilst Starmer and Reeves have made some big mistakes in my opinion (NIC, WFA original change, and other things) theyve also managed to stabilise the economy during a very turbulant time globally and started to get on top of immigration issues.

What theyve failed to do is explain this to us.

I think Burnham has more personality and isnt likely to be so quiet on areas they are making progress on. Better communication is one thing I would look forward to.

Starmer would make a fab FS.

Burnham is further left than Starmer so who knows. Im sure the North is going to be on the agenda tho! Pity for us down here in Cornwall.....but hey ho, the area voted for Brexit and were told but didnt listen.

Where to start? Khan is independently elected by Londoners, nothing to do with the PM.
Wales & Scotland are allocated money and they chose what to do with it. That’s devolution.
You don’t seem to understand much.

Dont Scotland also pay more tax? Or is it just different levels?

He should call a general election

I think greater emphasis on regionalism/devolving powers to regions and also increased infrastructure spending could benefit Cornwall too TBF. I guess it depends on whether "Manchesterism" is about applying what worked in Greater Manchester to other areas of the country or just "woohoo the North West rules". I think it's meant to be the former but time will tell.

Drop council tax and charge per sq ft of property per person.

So, for example, every man woman and child is entitled to 400 sq ft without paying anything. anything over that is a luxury and will be taxed.

Retired couple, Derek and Gill living in a 1200 sq foot house will have to pay tax on the extra 400 sq ft.

Their neighbours, Jay and Sasha with their two children won't have to pay anything as they are well below the limit. They are entitled to 1600 sq ft.

It would be a massive help to families. Garden space could be under similar rules.

I agree, as long as tax thresholds rise by the triple lock.

Increase the tax thresholds. Abolish National Insurance and just adjust income tax rates instead.

All means-tested benefits to be based on household income.

Free prescription eligibility to be in line with State Pension Age.

Council tax to be done on a regional basis so Band D is the average house value in the local area and then the other bands set accordingly.

Adjust Universal Credit so nobody gets more from salary + UC than the average household income in their area.

@LovingTelescopes that could mean a couple in a luxury apartment would pay less than a couple in a large council house. Plus, if you get divorced or children leave home, it’s going to cost more.

The point is that up until now, everybody has been told that they will get a state pension when they retire and have budgeted the size of any contributions to a private pension based on that, with the idea that making extra provision for their old age would give them a more comfortable retirement. I could see a massive legal dispute if the state pension were suddenly removed. I think most people would agree that the social contract implied when people start contributing would have been broken. The withdrawal of state pension would have to be a long term plan to allow people the chance to make up the difference through private contributions if they need to.

AB needs to bring in a massive scheme to encourage and support small businesses. Finally stop the rot of ever increasing closures of pubs, small shops, light industry and then start to turn it around to bring back vitality to the regions, small towns, etc which have become run down. Stop bending over backwards for large multinationals and chains. Encourage localism. Let’s push out the money laundering shops that are infesting our High Streets. Pay for it by levying higher business rates on internet shopping warehouses who have got away with cheap business rates per square food compared with bricks and mortar retail premises.

Means testing at a relatively high level of £60/£100k would make a difference. Wouldn’t hurt those on low incomes. People on high incomes don’t need state benefits.

Yes, that's true. I didn't say my idea was well worked out but it could be a starting block and worked out properly by clever people.

Although the children leaving home wouldn't be a problem-either downsize or pay for the luxury of the extra space you now have.

@LovingTelescopes- have you moved house recently? Who's going to pay solicitors fees, stamp duty, estate agents fees, moving costs etc ?

Exactly this!

@LovingTelescopes remember the bedroom tax? That didn’t go down well.

Pushing people out of their homes, many who have lived in them for years and raised a family there, won’t be happy to be pushed into living in a one bedroom flat because it’s too expensive to pay the extra money to stay in a three bedroom house.

Yes but any new tax rise will be unpopular. There is no tax that will be greeted with cries of universal approval.

And this tax would be in place of the house banding system

All that will happen if they do that is people will stop saving for retirement.