Faisal Islam: Andy Burnham has big ideas – but what will they cost?

More broadly, Burnham said he would publish a 10-year plan for the country and economy later this year, likely to detail wider plans for decentralisation, devolution and rebuilding Britain.

Normally you’d expect a significant infrastructure program with such plans, but Burnham also wants to fund the Defense Investment Plan, a multi-billion, multi-year spending commitment for the UK military. How will he solve this?

He also said his first priority as he walks through the doors will be a national plan to end insomnia.

He made a similar promise in Greater Manchester, but some of the progress made in recent years has been reversed. When I asked him about this in February, he said more funding and authority from central government was needed to deal with the recent surge. As his first act as Prime Minister, he allocated funds from the housing budget to solve this problem.

He said that the solution in the long term is the construction of mass municipal buildings. It will take years to nurture this.

Welfare is another critical test. Here, I am told, Burnham expects to show that he can make progress on what he calls “sustainable reform.” This will be based mainly on the review of Alan Milburn, who has proposed significant job support funding and mental health help for young workers in a bid to reduce benefits bills.

This will likely be done by local mayors who know what works in their areas. Burnham hopes to show markets that she can deliver the welfare reform that eluded former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.

This is the problem of the new Prime Minister. It faces the same manifesto and borrowing rule constraints as its predecessor, but clearly wants to do more. He says rewiring Britain would help the economy grow, but many of these solutions could take years.

And the recent rapid turnover of prime ministers and chancellors shows that even thinking a few years ahead can seem like a luxury.