Mr Burnham’s big idea is to spend more in the public sector to promote growth. Unfortunately for him there is no extra tax revenue spare, so he needs to put up taxes or borrow more to spend more.
If he raises taxes he will hit output and investment in the private sector by more than the increase in them in the public sector. The Reeves £66 bn tax hike demonstrated that, with depressed growth and rising unemployment the result.
If he tries to borrow more, already worried markets will drive interest rates up more. This will deter private sector investment. Dear mortgages will keep housebuilding depressed. People will consume less as they pay more in credit card and mortgage interest.
In both cases Mr Burnham will get more of the wrong kind of public spending. The costs of servicing the state debt will rise more. The benefits bill will soar as more people lose jobs or are unable to find a job as the private sector slims down to pay the extra tax and interest bills.
Mr Burnham’s second big idea is to give more spending power to Mayors. If they spend in the same way as the central government was spending before granting extra tax nothing much changes. If the Mayors spend additional sums and central government carries on spending as before then there need to be tax rises to pay the extra bills. That will adversely hit UK growth.
Mr Burnham will find that genuine devolution will produce different outcomes in different places. Scotland and Wales shows devolution can produce worse outcomes by over reliance on a badly run public sector. They spend more per head than England to grow more slowly. They also often get worse public services for more cost per head.
August 1, 2026
Perhaps we should all relocate to Manchester, England’s new capital.
August 1, 2026
Yesterday Louise Haigh said that the Reform Mayor couldn’t use the devolved cash to reduce council tax in his area. In other words they can only receive the cash if they stick to Westminster spending criteria. This is not devolution in any shape or form.
Already the Messiah has pledged about £60 billion on new initiatives. If this is paid for with tax rises then the tax take will reduce as people change their spending habits. Typical tax, spend and waste Marxist government.
August 1, 2026
I recall it as being always rather grey and either raining or about to rain. Good for cotton & textiles but perhaps rather less appealing for people?
Jordan Peterson in the Telegraph surely spot on.
Climate change catastrophism is a Leftist weapon to destroy capitalism.
It has been 20 years since Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth transformed environmental concerns into partisan dogma.
August 1, 2026
Yes, the climate catastrophe through burning fossil fuels would never have been invented by the Left if its “solution”, Net Zero, did not sabotage our energy and consequently destroy our industry, economy and national security.
August 1, 2026
@LL
I read Jordan Peterson’s article too!
Spot on in so many areas!
August 1, 2026
+1
August 1, 2026
Manchester is very difficult to find your way around because of lack of street signs and the new, mostly glass, buildings. Manchester Piccadilly is extremely busy too. Stockport is much better.Good signage, decent rail link to city centre and a lovely old market with fruit and veg, meat, nice looking wet fish and even a wool shop. I had no need for any of this,
but it is reassuring to know it is there and not given over to so-called street food as in many London markets. The same qualities are still there in Halifax market and others too.
August 1, 2026
The Cotton industry grew well in Manchester as it was relatively a town unburdened by guilds, unions and restrictive practices. The town encouraged entrepreneurship and it also had plenty of cheap local coal and sop some hydro energy. Perhaps we need to get these things back Burnham. Cheap energy and far less government! Alas Labour stand for the exact reverse.
Perhaps Burnham should have a chat with the current Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey, with his Ph.D. in economic history 1985. His doctoral thesis focused on the impact of the Napoleonic wars on the development of the cotton industry in Lancashire: a study of the structure and behavior of firms during the Industrial Revolution.
August 1, 2026
Rochdale in Greater Manchester gave us the cooperative movement in the mid 19th century. It is not what it was. The big department stores are mostly gone and it’s a long time since I heard about coop stamps. Maybe Burnham could encourage it. Best stay away from the Coop bank and the Crystal Methodist though.
August 1, 2026
Manchester just showed that if you appeal to the non-working and public sector you can secure an electoral win.
Next stage will be public sector goes on strike for more non-existent pay.
Anyone still think a general election will sort things out?
August 1, 2026
Circa a 65% chance of no overall majority 14% a Labour majority and about 10% Reform and 10% Tory.
We desperately need a real right wing government with a majority and sufficient power to overcome the blob, climate alarmist and other vested interest groups & nutters.
August 1, 2026
It’s good to see Burnham as a topic compared to some of the more niche subjects. Not that I have much to add that is not said below about him.
We have not had Trump or the Middle East war as a topic for a while. That just seems to be without an end at the moment.
August 1, 2026
The whole thing is a write off.. long given up now and hopefully bonds go up to deter housebuilders until this shower are removed.. the worst ever.
August 1, 2026
They can’t stop building houses. The economy is built on them and those who buy and occupy them.
The Ponzi Scheme must keep running.
August 1, 2026
sure burnham is clueless in financial terms.
but he is also clueless on cultural and what exactly are we defending terms.
even if his policies did produce wealth, which they won’t, what is the point of wealth if the people of the UK as we know them are destroyed?
August 1, 2026
As I keep saying iain, it is all a question of perspective.
Back in the 1980’s, if you were the MP for Doncaster you would say; “Coal is king” and support the miners. Today ? A current MP for Doncaster wants to ban the stuff.
August 1, 2026
Yeah but Labour aren’t really Labour anymore
August 1, 2026
+1
August 1, 2026
The point of wealth in the UK is that socialists can come along, steal it and spend it on the undeserving and feckless.
August 1, 2026
Thus killing investment and growth other than in the black market, smuggling, drugs, the wealthy and the hard working people leaving and in the growth of the non working feckless.
August 1, 2026
Indeed all blinding obvious to anyone who has not been dedicated into stupidity by left wing lunacy. We are in a doom loop scenario spending far more than they can ever raise in taxes. Reeves’s growth, growth, growth rain dances will have no positive effects when all her and now Burnham’s policies strangle and deter growth. Not that Burnham has any real policies beyond number 10 up North, stick the the Manifesto (which Starmer did not – he gave us a vast hike in NI and other taxes on working people and did not even attempt to smash the gangs, he now want a new income tax “levy” too).
Cut spending, cut red tape, relax planning, control the borders with real deterrents, ditch DEI, have real law and order deterrents, halve the state sector, cut benefits and make work pay, ditch net zero, cut taxes, drill, frack and mine, stop rigging markets like energy, transport, housing, employment, education, universities… let the markets decide and make UK inward investment worth while. All obvious stuff that would work but they do the reverse on everything.
So Starmer’s mad Gibraltar give away looks even more insane than his planned Chagos one. Is the Chagos “deal” scrapped yet or does he have to await further instructions from China. I see our Judges have foolishly (in my view) given their vast new “embassy” the go ahead.
August 1, 2026
Indeed all blinding obvious to anyone who has not been “educated” into stupidity by left wing lunacy is what I intended – but auto correct had other plans.
August 1, 2026
Good morning.
The big problem for Labour that I do not think anyone saw coming was, that the Conservatives stopped being conservative. They too took on the tax, borrow and spend policies and left little room when TTK and his gang lucked themselves into office.
As for the Mayors ? This is a clever smoke screen. As stated by our kind host, even if he does not always post what I write, 😉 devolution has resulted in more spending and worse outcomes but, this has largely been ignored by both the media and the general public. I mean, look at Mayor Khan ? He has created and raised numerous taxes however, things have not only got worse made his voter base unhappy, he has still managed to get re-elected. This is a boon to any government because, much like our Central Government would blame the EU for this and that, the PM can blame the Mayors, and by doing so, insulate himself from blame and responsibility.
August 1, 2026
Are the tories going to disband the post of regional/city mayor ???
August 1, 2026
So when are Kemi and Burnham and Miliband our new Foreign Sec. going to say anything substantive or sensible on the clearly planned mass invasion of Spanish territory by 50,000 + young fighting aged men?
August 1, 2026
I hear many are going back because they have no food. Why is ECHR member Spain not feeding them? Is it only the UK where migrant human rights are observed?
Why else would they be looting shops? Do they expect them to starve?
August 1, 2026
University lecturer fired for calling females “females” and his legal appeal actually refused. Lucky he did not say “Ladies” or he would doubtless would have been jailed for many years. What PC term should be used now then? Did the Judge give any advice on this? “The fairer sex” perhaps? Are we still permitted to say males?
August 1, 2026
I believe it was other behaviour that was the problem, not calling females “females”, but that’s not click bait.
August 1, 2026
Nothing much of any consequence that justified firing him that I could find!
August 1, 2026
Feminism has existed throughout history from one degree to another and in different shapes and forms.
We see this most dramatically in Shakespeare’s brilliant Macbeth where Lady Macbeth manipulates, controls and emasculates her husband, Macbeth. ‘When you durst do it, then you were a man’ – Lady Macbeth to Macbeth. Shakespeare is saying (as any good psychologist would also say), that Macbeth needs to stand up to Lady Macbeth (but without being a tyrant of course). That’s being a real man (and that’s what she secretly wants – for Macbeth to stand up to her).
And in the Taming of the Screw, see another type of feminism.
And later on, we see something similar in Flaubert’s brilliant Madame Bovary. Madame Bovary represents millions of wives dissatisfied with their middle-class lives and ‘mediocre’ nice-guy husbands and who manipulate, control and emasculate them as a result (the opposite to ‘nice guy’ is the controlling tyrant which is just as bad and often worse).
It’s all a repeat really of the psychology of what’s going on in the Garden of Eden (whether you’re a theist or atheist, the psychology is still the same. Eve tries to – and succeeds in – manipulating, controlling and emasculating Adam. Adam is just as guilty for he is too much of a wimp to stand up to her. The same kind of thing we see in particular with Lord and Lady Macbeth).
That’s at the heart of the matter. Not modern ‘feminism’ which is just the same kind of thing but with slightly different clothes compared to ‘feminism’ in the past.
August 1, 2026
Indeed human nature remains rather the same – thought technology, child birth, women’s rights, dentistry and medicine and life expectancy has rather improved at least.
August 1, 2026
“Why Burnham’s economic theories will not bring growth“
Not sure I would dignify them by even calling them “theories” just deluded mad random thoughts at best.
August 1, 2026
“In both cases Mr Burnham will get more of the wrong kind of public spending” nearly all public spending is the wrong kind and even that that is not is invariable spent hugely inefficiently. Much is spent doing vast net harms.
August 1, 2026
Dr Google tells me that “The United Kingdom spends significantly more per capita on healthcare than Singapore, both in total dollar value and as a percentage of national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Despite the UK’s higher financial input, Singapore achieves comparable or superior public health outcomes—such as higher overall life expectancy—while utilizing nearly half the financial resources relative to its economic output.”
Why? partly because public hospitals in Singapore compete against each other. Hospitals in UK face no competition. They afre allocated a portion of the population as theirs, to do with wha tthey will – or not. Secondly, Demand is excessive in UK because patients pay nothing directly – only through taxation. Also foreigners are usually treated in UK for nothing, in Singapore foreigners pay the full commercial cost. In theory UK is supposed to charge foreigners but I have yet to see an EFTPOS terminal used for such a purpose in UK.
The NHS is still the socialist construct it was when founded in 1948. As always with socialism, quality is levelled down to the lowest common denominator, and its socialist bureacracy is bloated and insensitive to the needs and desires of patients.
August 1, 2026
The NHS is free at the point of use so you cannot match supply and demand using charging so they use delays, queues, inconvenience and other tricks to deter patients. They have you tax money already so patients are a nuisance to be deterred. If one GP or one London hospital got a reputation for always having a quick and excellent service everyone would decent on those rather than the other so they have no incentive to do this. Rather the reverse incentives in fact. A normal business wants to attract more paying customers and expands to meet the demand – but not the “free” NHS.
August 1, 2026
An easy solution would be to hypothecate the tax paid for the NHS as a single rate chargeable on all earnings including benefits with no allowances. Then allocate the funds on a per capita basis to the CCG’s to pay the Providers for the services delivered against a schedule of prices.
August 1, 2026
Yes, moving to pay for delivered procedures and appointments is the way forward.
August 1, 2026
Real devolution and localism is to charge for public services and then let earners keep more of their own money. Then they can choose what they want to pay for.
How do you like thrm local apples Mr T shirt man?
August 1, 2026
We once had the ‘northwest regional assembly’ which failed in 2008 ….the develution experiment that was costly to the taxpayer and undemocratic ….will we never learn from our recent mistakes
August 1, 2026
“Mr Burnham’s big idea is to spend more in the public sector to promote growth.”
Marxists do not like capitalism so they try to promote growth by other means.
Good luck with that.
August 1, 2026
Mr Burnham started off as a socialist in university, no doubt, but no longer believes in it. (He’s grown up).
Problem is, he’s made a life for himself as a politician and a Labour one. So now he doesn’t know what to do.
Those on the right need to befriend him. Then Mr Burnham will be more likely to do more things that are more appealing to the right than not. If not, then he will just rebel – bit like Labour in the 1970’s. They didn’t really love the working class. They just hated the Tories / toffs / ‘greedy’ capitalists etc.
You got to get into the head of the enemy! Not to be manipulative. But to bring the best out in them – and so the best for our great country!
August 1, 2026
Given that the UK is surrounded by water and this is considered a vital resource for our economy and life, now that a drought has been declared just what plans does this government have to replenish our supplies in reservoirs?
It’s not acceptable that they ration water when their failures, over the years, to expand the infrastructure to meet all demands has been pathetic. Not just unable to control loss from broken pipes but also not storing enough to meet exceptional conditions.
The excuse will be that this has been a very hot summer – but they should be able to plan for it – hot summers and dry winters happen. Why can’t they take this into account without making us the effect of their awful planning and performance?
Water companies are constrained by HMG as regards investment and provision, so ultimately it is HMG responsible for the lack of water. So, nationalisation will not help, far from it, we can expect it to only get a lot worse should this happen!
August 1, 2026
When flying over France, a lot of reservoirs are visible in fields and when driving past the areas which have been affected by the summer droughts, they irrigate the crops and don’t lose them. I asked AI why British farmers don’t do the same. The answer was that the government encourages them to do so but at the same time, instead of doing like the French and just get on with digging a standard big pond with land drains into it, our farmers have to obtain planning permission [fees and delay], approval from the Environment Agency, the water quality quango and in some cases Natural England [of Dartmoor pony and Heather fires fame]
Why bother?
August 1, 2026
I wouldn’t want my Mayor to be given more money to spend. I expect Burnham’s drive to push money and decision making down to local level will simply lead to more incompetence and corruption.
August 1, 2026
@Roy Grainger – then Brunham’s spokesperson yesterday inferred the tax would be defined at the PM’s end, Conservative & Reform Mayors wont be allowed to discount it to the benefit of their electorate. These are to be ‘puppets’, expensive puppets of central government to do the bidding the government of the day.
August 1, 2026
If Brunham is deliberate then it is inspired.
August 1, 2026
The more money they give to regional mayors, the less they’ll give to councils
August 1, 2026
The Mayor of Tower Hamlets being the poster child for why most people don’t want Mayors to have more power
August 1, 2026
There is an ongoing misuse of economic terminology in government and media reporting circles.
Government on the left talk endlessly about ‘investment/investment in the Public Sector’ These are weasel words used knowingly, to hide the reality which is. More money will be taken from the tax payers, to increase the state employees salaries and pensions. Note, the Private sector/companies are the only nett payers of tax. There is no ‘investment’ involved, it is simply redeployment of the economic cake putting ever more into the already over full Public Sector body.
Investment is a term implying increased economic output, More money will be generated from investment input and business will growth by more than has been spent. The simple image is a piece of equipment enabling the output to increase more sales more revenue at less cost, plus an ability to pay for the loan taken out to fund the additional equipment efficiency.
None of those conditions apply to the Public Sector. There, the investment simply means increasing the number of people employed to do the same work. Or worse, introduce systems that cost the tax payers yet more each year.
We need to tell our political spokespersons to use the correct terms. The government is not investing in the Public Sector, it is ‘spending’. Spending resources it does not possess hence the level of taxation is increasing as is ongoing borrowing. needed to provide still more money to spent on the ever increasing Public Sector.
August 1, 2026
Burnhams
economictheories appear to have the same weight as his Mayoral puppet ideas.My way of reading the political situation, a massive 75% of the Manchester electorate has just REJECTED the idea of a Mayor for Manchester. The Socialist/Labour mayor was REJECTED by 88% of the electorate of Manchester. The starting position is the Electorate of Manchester will not have their views considered.
Democracy in action, how can a religiously idealogical left wing socialist/Labour mayor rejected by 88% of the electorate be said to represent all their constituents equally with that sort of rejection. Once elected that person has to represent ALL the electorate equally and without favour.
That’s where the UK Political Class is so ‘up themselves’ they refuse to represent their electorate as the see their Gang Leader as their only authority – they are trashing democracy
August 1, 2026
Labour politicians have yet to realise that the public sector is not a wealth creator, it is a parasite that sucks money out of the host population.
Like all parasites it will ultimately kill the host.
August 2, 2026
Yes, but they are highly unionised and vote Labour.
Reeves did not give Public Sector workers a pay rise for nothing. It was a gift for their votes.
August 1, 2026
Burham, as a socialist, like all the PMs since 1990, has no intention of promoting any growth but the growth of the state for socialism depends upon making and keeping people poor. Hence the socialist Net Zero Strategy was put into law to sabotage our energy and consequently our industry, economy and national security. We even now have socialist encouraged mass, uncontrolled legal and illegal immigration to cause social breakdown and speed up the process to become a failed state resulting in the inevitable end of democracy and the introduction of an authoritarian state.
August 1, 2026
Why doesn’t he see that a little efficiency goes a long way – if Burnham could only get a grip on making the pubic sector more effective and value for money that would be a good start, and there are plenty of things he could do if only he’d take off his left twisting eye patches and really look.
Trouble is it that socialist have only 2 tricks up their sleeves – the carrot or the stick! Neither work well.
Most people are steeling themselves to ever more increases in taxation because nobody can see this government getting us out of the dire mess created so willingly by successive parliaments.
Do you think that if labour ran the following slogan at the next GE it would make any difference to their perceived popularity: TAXATION IS US.
August 1, 2026
Burnham uses odd expressions of intent which puzzle those hearing them; something like:
“Imagine a mayor in every postcode and a by-pass in every heart.”
“I’ll say it again – imagine – a mayor in every postcode and by-pass in every heart.”
Elsewhere in the same speech he also said something like:
“We will never get mayors up to the level Britain needs unless every single postcode in the land is set up to contribute to it.”
August 1, 2026
More left wing waffle and generalities is all we expect or get. The uncomfortable feeling is Labour have no idea how to solve the problems they have created because to do so involves policies it regards as right wing.
Their easy throw away excuse this past two years has been we are putting right the Tory mistakes, along with the invented £22billion black hole that suddenly appeared once Labour were elected.
The following week we are informed they are going to ‘invest’ £22billion into carbon capture and storage to facilitate Net Zero?
You just could not make it up….well unless you are a socialist story teller, you couldn’t.
August 1, 2026
Welcome to the Kinder Children of 1970’s entitlement without contribution, before common sense and logic.
The Workers Socialist Unions PR machine now 50 years on is still pumping out the lies of their fight with Thatcher with Burnham now used as a prehistoric tool. That is the point, it is ‘they’ that took choose to fight Thatcher the representative of the People – ‘the Unions chose to fight the People of the UK!’. Of course, the fight was about money, Labours Socialist bakers the Unions wanted the People of this country pay their members ‘more money’ but didn’t want to work for it and contribute to the Nation. As of today the same old money for nothing, entitlement without contribution. Back then as now money was there if productivity grew to pay for it. The Unions theory back then the same theory that Burnham has to day, the one of entitlement without contribution, tax growth with no corresponding earning to back it up, replenish the pool to fund a tomorrow. It like the dream of ‘NetZero’ it cost a lot of money to get there, money over and above other expenditure, Then we get UK Parliament way, the Socialist way “lets cancel the means”, the way of earning to pay for a future, then blame others. Which is diametrical the opposite of the rest of the World that gets to earn and achieve at the UK’s expence
Growing the State is not growing the economy, taxing more doesn’t grow the economy it takes money from the economy. Proved time and time again it destroys the economy. People say Thatcher fought the Unions, the Miners – she didn’t. All she wanted was the money demanded to be earned, by the people, by the nation to fund an economy to create the growth to expand the well-being for everyone – to provide a tomorrow. It was simply good household ‘budgeting’ – money in and money out columns balancing. That is Burnham today, the Union concept of the 70’s the entitlement to other people’s efforts and contributions without making any yourself.
That is Burnham’s jaundiced view of the 70’s he wants to visit on the country once more.
Socialism needs destruction so as to build for its self a new world that conforms to the personal, very personal views of the ‘Gang’ Boss.
August 2, 2026
They way to destroy Socialism is through either more Socialism or, by applying the socialist tenant of; “Those who shall not work, shall not eat.” ie Take away all their benefits and access to services.
Like everything else in this country, we try and copy others but screw it up.
August 1, 2026
One month ago we had a labour PM and Manchester Mayor
And today we still have a labour PM and Manchester Mayor …..with ‘no vote’ and the other with a ‘reduced vote’
August 1, 2026
People are giving up on the ballot box.
Even Blair is now afraid.
They had no idea what they were unleashing on the civilians of our country.
August 1, 2026
Burnham’s Labour doesn’t believe in aspiration, just the soft bigotry of low expectations. From education to home ownership, their message to the working class is… know your place – Michael Gove
https://www.dailymail.com/debate/article-16020699/MICHAEL-GOVE-Burnhams-Labour-message-working-class-know-place.html
August 1, 2026
Councils without mayors already take spending decisions on investments and most of them go badly wrong. Property and solar farms are examples. What is the difference between a foolish mayor and a bunch of foolish councillors? Perhaps it is easier to prevent foolish ideas if it has to be a majority decision. Burnham believes that he has been a successful mayor of Manchester but he has wasted huge amounts on projects like ULEZ and buses while taking over previous successful investment by his predecessors.
August 1, 2026
Perhaps paint the walls of the council chamber will make the difference, or meeting in a parish hall?
Do you think I might be PM material? Any more bright insights like that and I might stand!
August 1, 2026
“Mr Burnham’s second big idea is to give more spending power to Mayors…. Scotland and Wales shows devolution can produce worse outcomes by over reliance on a badly run public sector.”
The real purpose is to give power to the “Citizen Smiths” as these people will have the time to attend all the decision-making meetings as they all have the non-jobs in the Civil Service, local government, the hundreds of quangos and thousands of charities. They know the “alarm clock” Brits will not have the time available unless they take time off work and lose pay.
August 2, 2026
+1
August 1, 2026
large numbers of rough sleepers still visible despite the pronouncement from burnham. locals still sleeping under the stars while illegal immigrants get nice hotel rooms.
was on another large IT site, all the brits being displaced from the workforce and replaced with those nice Indian nationals who don’t need to pay national insurance.
make it make sense.