QUENTIN LETTS: Gary, please pay more tax if you want to - but do it in private. Anything else makes you look like a conceited creepSee more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy JASON GROVES, POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 01:21 BST, 24 July 2026 | Updated: 01:42 BST, 24 July 2026
Kemi Badenoch has warned that 'taxes are coming' – as she predicted Andy Burnham could become Labour's Liz Truss.In a speech in London, Mrs Badenoch urged the new prime minister to rule out new taxes, saying he should cut the benefits bill instead of piling more costs on business and workers.But she warned that his lavish promises make tax rises inevitable. And she predicted that his habit of announcing unfunded pledges could lead to a repeat of Liz Truss's dramatic downfall in 2022.'Four years ago, a Prime Minister announced policies without making savings to pay for them and it didn't end very well,' she said.'Every day Andy Burnham seems to float a new expensive idea. A national care service that costs £18billion, building as many council houses as in the 1970s, costing £13billion.'On Monday, he said he was thinking about increasing the personal allowance. On Tuesday he was against it.'On Wednesday he was for it again. Does anyone know what he's thinking today? Because I don't. He doesn't actually know what he wants to do. He is thinking out loud. All we know is that it is going to cost a lot of money.'The Conservative leader revealed that Mr Burnham has not replied to her letter offering to help him drive through welfare cuts in the face of opposition from Labour backbenchers. Kemi Badenoch (pictured on Thursday) has warned that 'taxes are coming' – as she predicted Andy Burnham could become Labour's Liz Truss Badenoch predicted that his habit of announcing unfunded pledges could lead to a repeat of Liz Truss's dramatic downfall in 2022'We have seen this movie before,' she said. 'Tax rises are coming.'Mr Burnham has made a series of cost of living pledges in his first few days, totalling £1.6billion – equal to about £25million an hour.Ministers have struggled to explain how most of them will be funded.But the new PM has also signalled support for a string of much more costly policies, including a national care service to provide social care, building half a million new council houses and bringing privatised utilities such as Thames Water into state control. Downing Street has been unable to say how much these plans will cost, or how they will be funded. Officials have already started drawing up proposals for a national care service, costing an estimated £18billion, although they are also working on cheaper proposals.Mr Burnham has repeatedly raised the idea of using a 10 per cent levy on all estates to fund it – an idea critics have labelled a 'death tax'.He is seeking cross-party support for reforming social care. But Mrs Badenoch on Thursday said she would never support the death tax plan, which she said would penalise those who have made provision for their care in later life. New Prime Minister Andy Burnham is pictured with Queen Camilla and King Charles at the opening ceremony for the 2026 Commonwealth Games in GlasgowTreasury Chief Secretary Emma Reynolds on Thursday insisted that this week's announcements could be funded without tax rises. Asked if Mr Burnham would raise taxes, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'No, we are not saying that this week.' But Neal Lawson, a long-time ally of Mr Burnham, said the PM's vision of change could only be achieved by raising taxes – including breaking Labour's pledge to not raise income tax, national insurance or VAT.Mr Lawson, head of the Left-wing pressure group Compass, said: 'We have to find big answers. Raising money is always difficult, but I would start with that manifesto promise.'That was a stupid decision and when governments make stupid decisions they should reverse them, especially when they have a new leader.'Governments have broken commitments and changed their minds before. When the facts change, you change your mind. The facts have changed.'
