See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy DAVID WILCOCK, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 10:29 BST, 10 August 2026 | Updated: 11:14 BST, 10 August 2026
One of Andy Burnham's key economic advisers is said to be stalling on officially joining his team over fears the PM will bring in a wealth tax.Former Goldman Sachs economist and Tory Treasury minister Jim O'Neill is said to have been offered a ministerial role in the new Labour administration.He was one of a cast of serious economic figures brought in to advise Mr Burnham's leadership bid amid fears his installation would spook the markets.But the crossbench peer is reported to be holding out with concerns over the punitive potential new tax, as well as wanting to continue his widespread business interests, which would have to be placed in a blind trust if he was a minister.In June Lord O'Neill said he was 'very opposed to the general rule of wealth taxes', telling LBC radio: 'They are very easy to be gamed and avoided so I don't think they are likely to raise a lot of revenue.' At the same time, Mr Burnham has been warned his plans to carry out the first reform of council tax rates in more than 30 years could cause a fall in the pound.After entering No10 he pointed to potentially reforming the system so it moves towards a land value tax system and warned of 'big decisions ahead'.The Royal Bank of Canada's BlueBay Asset Management warned it has become 'cautious' about the outlook for sterling due to a potential impact on house prices. Former Goldman Sachs economist and Tory Treasury minister Jim O'Neill is said to have been offered a ministerial role in the new Labour administration The PM has not fully committed to the idea but left open the door by saying he wanted to see a 'we need a greater sense of fairness'Mike Bell, its head of market strategy, told the Telegraph: 'You've got high mortgage rates and you've got potential for taxes on property increasing, particularly in the South. And if that ends up leading to house price declines, then historically that's not great for the pound. We continue to be cautious on the pound.'Mr Burnham stoked fears he would raise taxes last month when he made a major supporter of the idea his No10 strategy chief.Matthew McGregor, Mr Burnham's director of political strategy, previously said hitting people with more than £10million in assets with a new levy would be 'a highly popular way' of raising £24billion for the Treasury.The PM himself has not fully committed to the idea but has left open the door by saying he wanted to see 'a greater sense of fairness' in the system.Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC's Panorama programme, he said: 'There are people here in Greater Manchester who pay a much higher council tax than people living in much larger homes in London.'So the Chancellor before, Rachel Reeves, was right to start to reform council tax to create some fairness there in relation to people in homes that are of much greater value, who haven't seen their council tax go up over the years because of the failure to revalue the banding.'So that's an example of something that I think was right and fair.'Lord O'Neill of Gatley was Commercial Secretary to the Treasury under David Cameron and Theresa May.But he was the first minister to quit under Ms May's leadership, with the Mancunian walking out over her lack of commitment to the Northern Powerhouse project to regenerate the North of England.He has sat in the Lords as a crossbencher since 2017.
