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Andy Burnham — page 6

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Nato head: Britain must show ‘credible path’ of annual defence budget increases

Mark Rutte said Britain will need to steadily increase defence spending to meet Nato target of 3.5% of GDP by 2035 Britain needs to show “a credible path” of annual increases in its defence budgets to meet a Nato target of spending nearly £30bn more on the military by the middle of the next decade, the head of the alliance said on Thursday. Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary general, said that Britain could not wait until just before 2035 to lift defence spending to 3.5% of GDP, in an unusually pointed intervention a day after he met prime minister Andy Burnham. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Dan Sabbagh17 Sept
  • neutral toward North Atlantic Treaty Organization · 97%

With Kemi’s new shadow chancellor, the Tories must hope for a bout of public amnesia

Andrew Griffith is keen on clearing red tape. Good job he wasn’t part of a Treasury team that abolished the Office for Tax Simplification On days like this, it’s not hard to be overwhelmed by existential futility. At the current rate of progress, the UK looks on course to wipe itself out far sooner than it would with any interference from AI. Everything feels hopeless. Years of minimal growth and a cost of living crisis. The tech bros and the bankers may be getting richer. The rest of us? Not so much. And there’s no end in sight. Andy Burnham may offer better vibes, but he is fighting a losing battle against global forces – wars, energy prices, borrowing costs – that he can’t control. You can feel the hope drain out of him as each day passes. Mr Congeniality is not quite so congenial as he once was. All the economic forecasts suggest things are going to get even worse in the next year. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•John Crace17 Sept

The Bank of England is shaking up its bond sales – why does it matter?

What the plan to sell £146bn in gilts back to the Treasury means for the public finances Bank of England holds interest rates Burnham’s talk of ‘breathing space’ at odds with reality of future rate rises Mixed in with the Bank of England’s decision on Thursday to hold interest rates at 3.75% was a surprise announcement that it was shaking up its programme of quantitative tightening. So why is this apparently arcane change to QT important, and what does it mean for the public finances? Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Heather Stewart Economics editor17 Sept

Money in people’s pockets is the key to economic recovery | Letter

David Redshaw responds to a letter on the bond markets and economic pressures afflicting the UK Neil Kinnock’s timely letter ( 9 September ) reminds us that we are not alone in suffering high gilt yields and borrowing costs. We are still feeling the fallout from Covid, and it needs mentioning that our national debt is similar to America’s and much less than Japan’s, and it never gets mentioned that Italy routinely runs 100% of GDP debt. But as Kinnock observes, the policies of several Conservative governments (including Brexit) have made things worse, and the problem for us is not so much the actual debt but our direction of travel. The aforementioned will make the bond markets view us with a more jaundiced eye. It was predictable that Jamie Dimon would pop up at this point ( JP Morgan boss meets Burnham and Healey to warn against bank tax rise, 10 September ). He talks about potential lack of investment by the banks. What investment? We aren’t even a nation of shopkeepers any longer; we’re a nation of pizza deliverers. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Guardian Staff17 Sept

Andy Burnham: UK must fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050

Exclusive: PM, who is facing pressure over whether to approve North Sea oil and gasfields, makes strongest comments yet on issue British people understand the climate crisis threat. Today I’m empowering them to tackle it UK politics live – latest updates The UK must fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050, Andy Burnham has argued in his strongest comments yet on the issue, saying it is no longer possible for Britons to believe they are not already affected by a changing climate. Writing for the Guardian about new plans for a mass of community-led local green energy projects, the prime minister said the UK must “believe in itself”, and set out his determination to reach net zero targets, which have been rejected by the Conservatives and Reform UK. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Peter Walker Senior political correspondent17 Sept
  • neutral toward Andy Burnham · 96%

British people understand the climate crisis threat. Today I’m empowering them to tackle it | Andy Burnham

With nearly £30m of funding, I’m giving communities power over local energy. They know the gravity of global heating, and they want to be part of the solution Andy Burnham: UK must fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050 On the day I became prime minister, I pledged to bring power to every postcode . Today, we begin to make good on that promise in the most literal sense. With nearly £30m of funding for People’s Power projects, communities across every nation of the UK will soon have the chance to build and control their own clean energy supply. This investment means villages, towns and cities can harness the natural resources around them with solar panels on libraries, publicly owned windfarms, hydro schemes in their rivers, or whatever else works for them. The purpose is to put money back in people’s pockets while giving them a direct role in tackling the climate crisis. Andy Burnham is prime minister of the United Kingdom Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Andy Burnham17 Sept
  • neutral toward Andy Burnham · 82%

Burnham has to sell Bank rate rises as ‘breathing space’ – good luck with that

PM’s push to cut cost of living is threatened by rising inflation and higher government borrowing costs Bank of England holds interest rates Business live – latest updates Good luck to Andy Burnham convincing voters he is giving them “breathing space,” if the Bank of England ratchets up interest rates in the coming months. That was the prospect opened up by Thursday’s minutes of the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting, which left rates unchanged at 3.75% – for now – but suggested policymakers may be unlikely to hold out much longer. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Heather Stewart17 Sept
  • critical toward Andy Burnham · 99%

Tories challenge chancellor to rule out tax rises in budget – UK politics live

The Conservatives want to brand Burnham’s administration as a ‘traditional tax and spend socialist government’ Good morning. With less than six weeks so go until the budget, economics is rising up the agenda at Westminster. The Bank of England is announcing its latest interest rate decision later – Graeme Wearden will have all the details on his business live blog – and Andrew Griffith is giving his first major speech since being appointed as shadow chancellor just over two weeks ago. Not surprisingly, Griffith is urging the chancellor, John Healey, to rule out tax rises in the budget. He has been doing interviews this morning and he told BBC Breakfast: The taxes or the fear of taxes … are driving really big taxpayers to leave our country for overseas, taking hundreds of millions of pounds of tax revenues that will pay for public services … The thing that they (the government) could do right now is take off the table the fears of ordinary small businesses, the self-employed, who are getting up now, going to work, and allow them to get on with their lives with confidence that the taxes are not going to go up. Only one party has ever rescued the country from trade union control. We’re ready to do so again. If you weren’t sure what kind of Labour government we have, or want to know what’s in store for you and your family finances, the news below is a big clue and it’s not good news Got no take on this particular candidate but worth noting that it’s been a tradition to have a trade union representative on the Court of the Bank for decades. Since the War I think. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Andrew Sparrow17 Sept

Thursday briefing: Yemen’s war continues to threaten oil supplies– but what about its people?

In today’s newsletter: The Houthi advance along the Red Sea coast raised fears for global trade and energy supplies, while more than 100,000 Yemenis have been displaced by the fighting Good morning. The lightning advance of Houthi militants along the west coast of Yemen over the past week has prompted fears of a spiralling conflict in the region and a new oil supply crisis. For families living in the Middle East’s poorest country, the most significant fighting between the Iran-aligned Houthis and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces in years is a crisis upon a catastrophe, with escalating civilian casualties and at least 100,000 displaced in recent days. UK politics | Key allies of Andy Burnham have warned the prime minister not to back down over his promises to put water companies under public control, after details emerged about the prime minister’s plan to give mayors more oversight of the industry. Environment | Climate breakdown probably weakened the glacier that collapsed causing catastrophic floods and killing hundreds of people in Nepal and Tibet last month, the first scientific study of the disaster has found. Health | Women with the same medical condition as men are less likely to be offered treatment such as surgery, a stent or a strong painkiller, research has found . Europe | The UK government’s EU reset summit will be delayed again unless the bloc agrees to discuss legislation that could lock British business out of parts of EU industry, government sources have said. UK news | Police searching for a three-year-old boy who went missing from a playground on the Suffolk-Essex border have found a body . Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Libby Brooks17 Sept

Nato leader warns of ‘most dangerous and complex security environment in a generation’

Mark Rutte asked UK and Europe to ‘provide the hard power Nato needs’ in face of geopolitical uncertainty Nato needs “more UK and more Europe in the alliance” to deal with the most dangerous security environment faced by the west in a generation, the secretary general of the 32-country military alliance said this afternoon on a visit to the UK. Mark Rutte praised Britain for promising to increase defence spending in line with US demands after a meeting with prime minister Andy Burnham – but argued that the military and financial effort must continue into the future. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Dan Sabbagh16 Sept
  • neutral toward North Atlantic Treaty Organization · 97%

Greens just four points behind Labour in urban areas, poll reveals

Exclusive: Party could take 40 seats if result replicated at next election, according to Labour-linked thinktank The Green party is just four points behind Labour in urban constituencies, putting them within touching distance of taking as many as 40 seats if the result was replicated at the next election, according to new polling by a Labour-linked thinktank. The survey by ThinkLabour, which has extensive links to Andy Burnham’s government, finds that urban voters have moved in large numbers towards Zack Polanski’s party since the 2024 general election. The research highlights the challenge Labour faces holding onto the Holborn and St Pancras seat in the face of a challenge from Polanski himself at next month’s byelection. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Kiran Stacey Policy editor16 Sept