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Andy Burnham has catapulted his way back to Westminster in a landslide victory, winning 55 per cent of the vote in Makerfield. The scale of that victory – and how much he trounced Reform – means it’s likely the Labour party hands him the keys to No. 10 in weeks rather than months as James Heale said on Coffee House this morning.
The scale of his by-election victory is the only card Andy Burnham has to play
But if I were the soon-to-be-former Manchester mayor, I would not want the keys to that particular door. An economic mess is all that awaits inside. And that mess was made worse by the latest figures on the public finances released this morning by the Office for National Statistics.
They show the Treasury had to borrow £23.3 billion last month to keep the country afloat. That was £5.4 billion more than in May last year and, crucially, was almost £6 billion more than the Office for Budget Responsibility watchdog had expected borrowing to be in its forecasts. In the financial year so far, the Budget is already off by nearly £8 billion.
