MILLIONS of families could face soaring bills as Andy Burnham vows to overhaul council tax in Labour lurch to Left

Millions of families could face rising bills as Andy Burnham promises to overhaul the council tax system.

The mayor of Greater Manchester has condemned the ‘reactionary’ charge as he officially launches his by-election campaign.

Painting Makerfield as an effective Labor leadership contest, he said it was ‘not justified’ to keep taxes lower than previous valuations.

He also demanded an annual ‘land value tax’ to catch those holding assets.

This stance raises the possibility that Labor will target large numbers of homes with skyrocketing values, mostly in London and the South East.

Critics warned such a move would hit families and retirees on fixed incomes struggling to buy property.

Mr Burnham did not elaborate on what would replace council tax, with much of his ‘Manchesterism’ platform still remaining stubbornly vague.

But previous proposals included a percentage tax based on a property’s value.

‘Taxes are spiraling higher in Burnham’s Britain’, Conservatives have warned.

Mr Burnham, who today faces his first joint attempt to understand his vision for the country:

• Unlike her previous call for trans women to be able to use women’s toilets, she said new Government guidance should be implemented, albeit in the ‘fairest and most compassionate way possible’;
• He is determined to stand behind Labour’s 2024 manifesto (which excludes increases in income tax, National Insurance and VAT) despite saying in the past he wants to increase the top rate of tax;
• He said he would stick to Rachel Reeves’ financial rules and downplayed his comments last year dismissing bond markets; This scared investors;
• He restated his support for abolishing inheritance tax and introducing a social care tax;
• He reiterated the Left’s calls for a rethink of ‘regressive’ rules, changing his stance once again on Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood’s crackdown on immigrants;
• He insisted electoral reform should be included in Labour’s next manifesto but refused to say which system he would support.

Polls consistently show Reform poised to take the seat of Makerfield, which will be won on June 18.

But Mr Burnham hopes local “star power” can buck a wider trend after one of his allies dramatically backed out of giving him a way back to the House of Commons.

Answering media questions after taking office this morning, Mr Burnham ruled out breaking Labour’s manifesto before the next election if he takes over from Keir Starmer.

This appears to rule out the possibility of increases in income tax, NI and VAT rates.

But he insisted there was still room for ‘radical’ policies and suggested he would look at calls from rival Wes Streeting and others on the Left for more ‘wealth taxes’.

‘I have long been convinced of the land value and land value tax argument. ‘I am personally keen to see council tax reformed,’ Mr Burnham said.

‘This is a very regressive tax and I don’t think it can be justified based on the 1991 assessments, so… I see a big case for changing land, property and business taxes.’

Mr Burnham has already made clear that he wants to see a rebalancing of wealth from the South to the North.

Political parties of all stripes have avoided property revaluation since 1991, fearing that it would have negative consequences for residents.

Rachel Reeves has previously avoided major reform to council tax, although she has acknowledged she is looking at a proportionate property tax.

In 2024, the Tony Blair Institute proposed introducing a tax of 0.5 per cent of the value of each property to replace council tax.

The think tank has recommended a minimum payment of £1,350 for properties worth less than £270,000 and a maximum payment of £6,250 for properties worth more than £1.25 million.

The report estimates that 4.1 million people living in larger homes will pay significantly more, but 12 million people will have lower bills.

The change was praised as potentially boosting growth by ‘encouraging older homeowners in high-value properties to downsize’.

A separate plan from the Onward think tank proposed pro-rated annual payments of up to £500,000 on property value.

The report estimates this would need to be 0.44 per cent to replace council tax revenues with a minimum annual payment of £800.

A fee of 0.54 per cent per annum will be charged on property values ​​between £500,000 and £1 million, and 0.81 per cent above that.

Onward said these thresholds would be cost-neutral for the Government, but exempting those who had already paid stamp duty on their homes would create an initial shortfall.

The government has already promised a ‘mansion tax’ on homes worth more than £2 million. Another option for reforming council tax would be to introduce more bands.

Mr Burnham also reiterated his support for scrapping inheritance tax in favor of social care tax.

‘I won’t give up on this. “I have long believed that we needed to find a different way to pay for care,” he said.

Mr Burnham has been talking about overhauling land taxes for more than a decade.

He called for a land value tax during his failed 2010 Labor leadership bid, saying it was ‘such an old idea from the Labor Party that it can be traced back to Thomas Paine’.

Mr Burnham cited Makerfield as an opportunity to get rid of Keir Starmer in his opening speech (pictured)

‘LVT, an annual tax on the market rental value of land, would allow for the abolition of stamp duty, a tax on young people’s desire to put down roots and get on with life,’ he wrote in the Guardian that year.

Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘This will be an expensive leadership contest and it is taxpayers who will pay the price.

‘Andy Burnham can’t tell you how much his council tax plan will cost, what will replace the current system or which households will foot the bill because he doesn’t know. But what we do know is that taxes are rising in Burnham’s Britain.

‘Families are already paying the price for Labour’s economic recklessness. Council taxes are through the roof and bills are rising well above inflation.

‘Burnham’s answer is a vaguer, bigger and more expensive version of the same punishment.’

Mr Burnham, who stood alongside banner-waving activists who turned out in Makerfield today, described the by-election as an opportunity to ‘change’ Labor.

‘I know that my own party needs to change. “We need to be better than we are,” he said.

‘A vote for me in this by-election is a vote to change the Labor Party.’

The barb sparked a backlash from Starmer loyalists, with minister Mike Tapp responding on X: ‘We don’t need change, we need stability to deliver more – faster. Country first.”

The former minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown is leaning to the left of the Labor Party.

Chief whip Jonathan Reynolds was the only Cabinet minister at this morning’s launch.

They were there along with MPs Kim Johnson, Barry Gardiner, Ian Byrne and Rebecca Long-Bailey. Liverpool metro mayor Steve Rotheram.

But he has already backtracked on a promise to rejoin the EU, an idea popular with MPs but seen as deeply unhelpful in a region that heavily supports Brexit.

Mr Burnham is believed to have told Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood that he supported a crackdown on immigrants.

However, he has now hesitated to grant retroactive indefinite leave to remain, which is considered crucial in combating the influx of immigrants in recent years. ‘I know members of Parliament have expressed concerns about this issue,’ he said.

‘So I have broad support for what the Home Secretary is trying to do, but I think there needs to be caution about it.’

Critics accused him of diluting his commitment to the proportional representation (PR) voting system.

Instead, Mr Burnham suggested he wanted MPs to be elected using supplementary voting and shelved the issue, admitting that this should be included in a manifesto first.

Other policies the mayor has put forward in the past include increasing the top tax rate to 50p, while he has praised Gordon Brown’s disastrous 10p tax rate.

But this has been effectively ruled out during this Parliament by his statements today.

‘I am committed to the manifesto commitments on tax. I think that’s really important from a trust perspective, from a trust perspective,’ Mr Burnham said.

He also suggested that ‘wealth’ would be shifted from the south to the north of England.

Asked whether he would want to introduce radical policies, Mr Burnham suggested his focus would be on working within the existing framework.

‘I think we need to look clearly at the manifesto that Labor is presenting in 2024. “I think there is room to be more radical in this manifesto,” he said.

Chief whip Jonathan Reynolds was the only Cabinet minister at this morning’s launch

Mr Burnham’s demand for ‘change’ sparked a backlash from the faithful, with minister Mike Tapp responding on X: ‘We don’t need change, we need stability to deliver more – faster. Country first.”

Mr Burnham’s stance on gender issues has come under scrutiny after the Daily Mail revealed footage of him excluding a ‘minority’ who had concerns.

Today he tried to dodge questions by claiming the issue had been resolved with new Government guidance.

‘I think we need to do this, we need to move on to the next stage, instead of repeating arguments over and over again.

‘I think the UK has been doing that a lot lately with Brexit and other issues.

‘We need to stop arguing with each other, find common ground and stop bringing a country together, coming together.’