So much for the talk of a new-look PMQs. (See 11.12am.) Although Andy Burnham and his team have spoken about adopting a new approach to the traditional Commons joust with the leader of the opposition, in the end this felt much like business as usual. Burnham was more willing to engage with Kemi Badenoch’s questions than Keir Starmer was (certainly in the late Starmer phase), and he did make a point of stressing several times his desire to work with opposition parties. But, although he has made “problem-solving, not point-scoring” his mantra, Burnham was quite happy to resort to point-scoring.
His main blast was directed at Andrew Griffith, the new shadow chancellor, and his role in the Liz Truss mini-budget. Burnham may not have been particularly innovative, but he was good; confident, plausible, quite funny. In the exchanges with Badenoch, there was no obvious winner, but he had the best single put-down.
That came when Badenoch asked: The prime minister told the house that his summer of promises would be paid for by reprioritising within government. So what exactly has he cut? Burnham replied: “In terms of what has he cut?
Tax is the simple answer.” This was a reference to the point he made yesterday about how his early announcements included two tax cuts in his first week. While Burnham and Badenoch will both be fairly happy with how the exchanges went, one person less pleased will be the PM’s diary secretary. Burnham did seem to agree to a lot of meetings with MPs wanting to discuss this, that or the other. (Starmer would have fobbed them off with a meeting with a minister, which is what Burnham himself will probably be doing before too long.) And this did seem to confirm Badenoch’s point about Burnham being a people pleaser. (See 12.09pm.) She claimed that, in response to 125 questions yesterday, Burnham did not once say no to a spending request.
It is a fair line of attack, although probably not one that will be available for long because Burnham will soon discover that he cannot do this job without having to disappoint.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
