‘The chancellor is in a bind’: is No 11 at odds with Burnham’s big vision?

MPs applaud PM’s ambition and optimism but John Healey has yet to show he can match leader’s radical perspective Until now, Andy Burnham has been a lucky prime minister.

In office for just over six weeks, no major domestic crisis derailed his plans over the summer, Reform has been on the back foot , and he arrived back at Westminster with his personal approval ratings soaring and optimism undampened.

But underneath the sense of relief that many Labour MPs are feeling that their high-stakes gamble of ousting Keir Starmer appears – for now – to have paid off, there is an unease that Burnham’s premiership is yet to make contact with economic reality.

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