Who’s going to pay the bill for Andy’s largesse? Day two sees a raft of uncosted promises – and the first mutiny from a sacked Starmerite echoing the nation

Andy Burnham was asked last night to explain how he will repay his left-wing spending spree.

In an early warning sign, the new Prime Minister’s first cost of living pledge was revealed within hours of a sacked minister revealing he had no funding.

And despite telling the first Cabinet meeting that his Government would always ‘show us how we will pay for it’, Mr Burnham’s spokesman could not say who would foot the bill for his many other proposals, which look set to hit taxpayers with hundreds of billions of pounds.

The Prime Minister, who had already promised to end rough sleeping in his first speech in front of Number 10, raised the possibility of raising the income tax threshold, looked at nationalizing public services, defended the national care service and promised to greatly increase council house construction.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch asked: ‘Where does the money come from? ‘I am very concerned that the Prime Minister has made so many promises to the country without any explanation of how we can deliver them.’

His agenda has raised fears that the Labor leader will hit the middle classes with new tax rises; Bringing energy and water companies into public control would mean putting 2.4p on income tax or risk scaring the city into further debt rather than cutting its ballooning welfare bill, experts have warned.

As a plan to cut VAT on energy bills over the winter turned into a farce yesterday, Reform UK Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said: ‘Burnham’s figures don’t add up.’

Keir Starmer’s ally Darren Jones, who was removed from the Cabinet by Mr Burnham, made life difficult for the new Prime Minister by stating that his expenses were not funded.

The Prime Minister started the day at 6am by announcing that the 5 per cent VAT charge will be removed from domestic electricity bills from 1 October, saving households an estimated £45 when the price cap increases; This figure has been questioned by experts.

He promised to fund it by canceling Sir Keir Starmer’s Digital ID plan.

But less than two hours later Sir Keir’s former right-hand man Darren Jones threw the announcement into chaos by revealing that the identity scheme had never been funded in the first place.

On Mr Burnham’s first full day in Downing Street:

• New Defense Secretary Wes Streeting has hinted there will be more money for the Armed Forces, claiming he has a ‘dear friend’ in Chancellor John Healey;
• Nigel Farage renewed his call for a general election, saying recent changes of prime minister had put Britain on par with Italy;
• An opinion poll found Labor and Reform pegged at the same level, at the first sign of a Burnham surge;
• Boris Johnson condemns Ed Miliband’s appointment as Foreign Secretary; the former Net Zero minister then hopped on a plane and flew 6,000 miles to the Philippines;
• The make-up of Mr Burnham’s cabinet has raised eyebrows as it is decidedly more privately schooled and Oxbridge educated than Keir Starmer’s;
• It has been revealed that convicted fraudster Louise Haigh, the new Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has been removed from the fraud oversight role usually associated with the job.

Mr Burnham is keen to make a positive impact on voters in his first weeks in office after Sir Keir prematurely squandered his 2024 election landslide with a disastrous cut to millions of pensioners’ winter fuel payments.

The new Prime Minister claimed at his first Cabinet meeting that the leadership change would give Labor a ‘second chance to make a first impression’.

But he also hinted that ministers would have to find budget cuts to fund some of their priorities.

He told the meeting: ‘If we want to cover living costs and relieve pressure then we have to be ready to reprioritise.

‘We have to show fiscal discipline, we have to show that our commitment to fiscal rules is genuine and that we are prepared to make tough decisions on that.’

Mr Burnham also vowed to end rough sleeping on his first day in office, which he said would be funded by ‘unreserved’ money from the housing department

The Prime Minister later told his colleagues at the Cabinet table that the ‘cost of living government’ would ‘always…show us how we are going to pay for it’. [measures]’ – his official spokesman insisted the energy bill scheme was ‘fully funded’.

Mr Burnham’s spokesman also said the ‘first’ phase of the pledge to end rough sleeping would cost £340 million, paid from ‘unallocated’ funds at the housing department.

But he could not say how much a number of other policies would cost or how they would be paid for.

Asked about Mr Burnham’s plan to build half a million council houses, the spokesman said the Government would ‘make plans in due course’.

He said the national care service plan was a ‘major priority’. However, when asked about costs and financing, he again replied: ‘We will make plans when the time comes.’

The spokesman said the Government was ‘prepared for all possibilities’ of bringing Thames Water under state control, but refused to say how much it might cost taxpayers.

Regarding the idea of ​​cutting student loan repayments, they said the new Prime Minister ‘has been very clear about his commitment to fiscal discipline’.

On the eve of his coronation, Mr Burnham said he was considering increasing the income tax personal allowance, which has been frozen at £12,570 for the past five years.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank said a one-off freeze on the threshold would cost £2bn, but if continued permanently it would cost up to £9bn a year by the start of the next decade.

Meanwhile, the Institute of Economic Affairs puts the cost of nationalizing the water industry at £150bn and £50bn for energy.

But he added there would also be operating costs of £20bn a year, which could mean a 2.4p increase in the basic income tax rate to cover this.

IEA senior economist Dr. Valentin Boboc said: ‘There is no version of this where the public both takes back utilities and avoids paying; The cost simply moves from the water bill to the tax bill.’

The Taxpayers Alliance has calculated that recapping bus fares to £2, which Mr Burnham will announce today, would cost £240 million, while a target to increase council building construction could cost £40 billion.

Chief Executive John O’Connell said: ‘Andy Burnham comes in at number 10 with a shopping list that could cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of pounds. If he’s serious about giving families breathing room, he should start cutting spending rather than writing a blank check for every failed big government idea on the shelf.’

Meanwhile, Burnham last night appointed Dan Jarvis and James Murray, who served as Defense Secretary and Health Minister respectively, as security minister and Treasury secretary following their resignations from Keir Starmer’s cabinet.