Kemi Badenoch tears into Burnham at PMQs for lack of spending plan – blasting ‘he wants to cut welfare by spending MORE’

KEMI Badenoch branded Andy Burnham as a “people pleaser” and not a leader after she accused him of not having a serious plan for the country in their first PMQs bout. The Tory leader also ridiculed the Prime Minister for wanting to bring the welfare bill down by “spending more money”. Andy Burnham was grilled in his first appearance at PMQs today Andy Burnham makes his way to PMQs Ms Badenoch told Mr Burnham: “I think it’s delightful that he wants to make everyone happy but a Prime Minister needs to be a leader, not a people-pleaser. She added: “He’s talking about working together on welfare. I already made that offer but that does mean cuts. He wants to bring the welfare bill down by spending more money.” Sign up for the Politics newsletter Thank you! The Tory leader also claimed the markets believed Mr Burnham was a “spendthrift” premier and was not trusted on the economy. The Prime Minister failed to rule out hiking taxes as he was pressed by the Tory leader whether he would hike them. He said: “I’ve already indicated my first moves were to cut tax but I’m not going to do what any Prime Minister has done and is write the Budget here. “But can I also say to her and indeed to the whole of her new shadow cabinet, the majority of whom were part of a government that lasted for 49 days, a short-lived government that crashed confidence in the economy, hammered people’s mortgages.” Ms Badenoch pressed the PM on how he would tackle the UK’s soaring debt, which is close to £3trillion. She said: “Lord O’Neill, a close friend of the Prime Minister, said yesterday’s statement in the Commons was the last thing investors wanted to hear. Most read in The Sun Ms Badenoch accused the PM of being a “people pleaser” and not a leader The PM told the Commons he had a plan for the economy and talked up his tax cuts “Lord O’Neill is a serious economist, he knows what he’s talking about and sure enough, yesterday, the cost of government borrowing rose to its highest in 18 years. How does he tackle to tackle the Government’s rising debt costs?” Mr Burnham replied that he did not “always agree” with his economic adviser but welcomed his “candid” advice. He said: “Can I say to the Right Honourable lady, I’ve worked with Jim O’Neill for 10 years. Jim O’Neill always gives me candid advice, we don’t always agree. But he and I worked together to turn Greater Manchester from a former industrial heartland to the fastest-growing city region in the country.” The Tory leader accused Mr Burnham of wanting to reduce the welfare bill by spending even more of taxpayers’ cash on benefits. She said: “He’s talking about working together on welfare. I already made that offer but that does mean cuts. He wants to bring the welfare bill down by spending more money. “Yesterday, the Prime Minister told the House that his promises would be paid for by reprioritising within government. So what exactly has he cut?” The PM boasted that he had already started to cut taxes including VAT on electricity bills and business rates for pubs. But he said he could not defend the number of young people who are out of education and work, known as NEETs. He said: “I do not want to be a Prime Minister that sees a situation where we have so many people in their 20s not in education, employment or training. I can’t defend that.” The Prime Minister has been under mounting pressure to raise defence spending to three per cent having hinted he wanted to boost funding for the armed forces. After John Healey’s resignation he said he would reduce the welfare bill to spend more money on defence. But the next Chancellor has sparked a hypocrisy row after backpedalling on a military cash boost he previously demanded. The ‘Burnham Bounce’ in the polls has started to flatline as Reform and Labour remain neck-and-neck in the polls. Labour and Nigel Farage’s party are tied on 23 per cent while the Tories trail in third place on 20 per cent, according to YouGov. Mr Burnham faces an in-tray from hell as Britain’s welfare bill continues to soar and is expected to cost the taxpayer around £400billion a year by the end of the decade. Lord O’Neill of Gatley, who has advised the PM on the public finances, said he expected Mr Burnham to bring in public spending cuts to keep the economy ticking over. The heat is on for Burnham as he was pictured going for a run The Prime Minister faced his first test in the Commons on Monday Ms Badenoch will grill the PM once again at PMQs on Wednesday Meanwhile Britain’s borrowing costs continue to surge and have risen sharply within the last few months. The rates hit a multi-decade high and tipped over 5 per cent. The new PM used his first Commons speech in the job to warn that “Britain is not where any of us would wish it to be”. He singled out “a series of wrong turns in the 1980s” as well as the decision to leave the European Union as the reason for a lack of UK growth — rather than the record taxes Labour has imposed. Mr Burnham faced MPs for the first time since entering No 10 six weeks ago and embarking on a summer tour announcing relatively small cost-of-living giveaways. Ahead of his marathon three-hour grilling by MPs yesterday, the Labour leader was seen working up a sweat during his morning run. Andy Burnham is facing an in-tray from hell on defence, welfare and immigrationCredit: Alamy The PM will feel the heat even more, as long-term government borrowing costs rose to their highest level since 1998. At the dispatch box for the first time in 16 years, Mr Burnham said: “Britain is not where any of us would wish it to be. Things are not working as they should. Life is too expensive and too hard for too many.” The ex-Manchester Mayor said his decade away from Westminster had given him a “clear diagnosis” of the source of the UK’s troubles. The Prime Minister took aim at the legacy of former PM Mrs Thatcher and her programme of privatisation, as well as pulling out of the EU. He said: “Political power was centralised, economic power privatised, the country deindustrialised, austerity followed, hollowing out councils and depriving them of the agency to act to reverse any of this.” He added: “Then Brexit compounded the damage, ushering in a decade of low growth and stalled regeneration. Far from taking back control, the combination of these policies took control out of the hands of communities up and down Britain. “For 40 years, too many places have been drifting.” Tory leader Kemi Badenoch attacked Mr Burnham for living in the past when he should be focused on the future. She hit back: “The year is 2026, yet the Prime Minister said in his statement that everything has gone wrong since the 1980s, still complaining about Margaret Thatcher. I may not look it, but I’m 46 years old. He is talking about a woman who became Prime Minister before I was born. He is living in the past and he wants to take us back to the 1970s. “On this side of the House, we are for the future, not the past. That is the difference between them and us. His ideas are all about more government control, more spending, more tax, more politicians.” She blamed the £70billion of tax rises under this Labour Government for failing to propel Britain out of the economic doldrums. Burnham is similarly in danger of giving impatient voters another history lesson they do not need BY JACK ELSOM, Political Editor in the House of Commons WHAT was supposed to be a “new style of politics” felt strangely familiar. Andy Burnham’s offer of “problem-solving not point-scoring” quickly descended into the Punch and Judy PMQs of old. Labour MPs dutifully cheered their new leader – what choice do they have? – but in many ways it was pure Starmer. As Kemi Badenoch collared him on tax and spend, the PM’s blokey charm gave way to the finger-jabbing that defined his predecessor’s approach. He reached for that classic break-glass-in-case-of-emergency Labour response of bringing up Liz Truss. He mentioned her name more than once, in fact, as he banged on about “14 years of Tory government”. For a man who went to such great lengths to secure the job of PM, there is a danger of slipping into that classic Starmer trap of looking in the rear view mirror. Burnham is similarly in danger of giving impatient voters another history lesson they do not need. They know what the Tories did and booted them into electoral touch. Now they want those who sought the levers of power to take responsibility and crack on. On substance, again Burnham was found lacking but admitted that was largely by design. He does not want to box himself on tax and spend ahead of next month’s Budget where he faces gruesome choices. But by not ruling out tax rises, voters will draw their own conclusions. PMQs may have the same old shouting, but sometimes it’s what the politicians don’t say that speak loudest. 7 comments7