𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Lucy Powell, one of a hardcore group of Andy Burnham’s female Lieutenants, says the new Prime Minister is going to bring a “laser focus” to tackling the cost of living. “Hear, hear,” we all say, but the big question is how’s he going to do that? Andy hasn’t told us that yet. He’s not fond of explaining things. He’s more for delivering speeches packed with clichés before hotfooting away, leaving questions unanswered. Call me old-fashioned, but I want to know how this Government under his new leadership is going to get prices down; only then is there any chance of some “hope in my heart”.

If Burnham wants to bring down the cost of living, he needs to start by reducing energy prices. He needs to remove carbon taxes from bills and remove the blockers to drilling new oil wells in the North Sea. We need to get bills down for individuals, reduce the costs for businesses and get money flowing into the exchequer.

Burnham has floated the idea of drilling for more oil and gas, but this could be more smoke and mirrors as he remains a strong net zero advocate. Even more worrying is his clear hatred of the 1980s and his bizarre desire to make his premiership a 1970s tribute act. So, it’s safe to presume he isn’t going to liberate our country and get the economy booming as Mrs Thatcher did. What seems more likely is that he will further entrench the failed left-wing ideology that is doing so much damage to our lives.

The rumours swirling are that he’s going to bring in a so-called wealth tax, a new tax on homes, a land tax, and a huge hike in capital gains tax to squeeze the public for another £38 billion. As if we are not taxed enough. Burnham and his left-wing groupies seem to be the only people who don’t understand that the problem is not that we are undertaxed, but that the Government is overspending.

His plans for more state control do not come cheap, and that means higher taxes for thee and me, whatever he might tell you. Sadly, for all Andy’s smiles and cheery northern banter, he’s a hardcore socialist who wants to take us back to the 1970s – the sick man of Europe – before Thatcherism saved us.

When Mrs Thatcher took power in 1979, the unions had crippled the country, and the state was crippling its citizens with high inflation and even higher taxes. The top rate of income tax was 83% (which her government brought down to 40%), and the top rate on investment income was an eye watering 98%, which she abolished. There were price controls on goods, price caps on income and dividends, and there were foreign exchange controls.

Burnham’s view that this marked a wrong turn in our history should worry all of us. His Back to the Future 1970s nostalgia heaven is likely to prove a living hell for those who will have to pay through the nose for our new Prime Minister to relive a rose-tinted version of his childhood.