Streeting warns against ‘expensive’ pledges in Labour leadership contest and defends bond markets – UK politics live

From 30m agoWes Streeting has made an implicit dig at Andy Burnham in his speech this morning on “progressive capitalism”. (See 10.44am.)

In a speech setting out his platform as a potential Labour leader, Streeting warned against “expensive and popular pledges”, saying that he would not be offering these.He did not explicitly mention Burnham at this point, but it seemed clear that he was referring to the Greater Manchester mayor, who is expected to win the Makerfield byelection on Thursday and tipped to replace Starmer as PM at some point later this year.Burnham has said relatively little about how he would govern as PM, or how he might diverge from Labour’s manifesto agenda, but he is vulnerable to claims that he would ramp up government spending.

Last week he had to backtrack after appearing to commit to offering financial compensation to Waspi women. He also wants to bring the water and energy sectors under public control. How this might happen has not been spelt out, but critics view this as evidence that a Burnham administration would not have a strong commitment to fiscal restraint.

Streeting said: double quotation markThere is a risk that a Labour leadership contest becomes a Dutch auction of the most expensive and popular pledges to appeal to the party faithful at the expense of the British people. Not on my watch. We can’t play fast and loose with the public finances or the trust of the people.

Not when the risks are so high and faith in politics is so low. As I’ve said on my leaflets in Ilford North at every general election: you may not always agree with me, but you’ll always know where I stand. You won’t find me making pledges to win your vote in a leadership election only to let you down after the ballots are counted.

(Burnham’s wife is Dutch – although this may have had no bearing at all on Streeting’s choice of metaphor.)Streeting also made an even more explicit dig at Burnham when he defended the bond markets. He said: double quotation markBond markets are not Bond villains and fiscal rules matter.

Fiscal discipline matters because credibility is the precondition for an activist state. With debt approaching 100% of GDP, Britain has very little room for error. This was a reference to Burnham telling the New Statesman last year in an interview that the government should not be “in hock” to the bond markets.

At the time this was taken as Burnham saying politicians should not let the bond markets determine government borrowing decisions, but in a recent Guardian interview he said his remark had been misinterpreted, and that what he meant was that politicians should not “end up losing control of public spending” leaving them in hock to lenders.Burnham is more far popular with Labour members than Streeting, polling suggests, and, although Streeting says he is a candidate for the leadership, at Westminster many people assume that Burnham could end up replacing Starmer without a contest because his lead in the party is so strong.In an interview with the Sun, asked if he would rule out doing a deal with Burnham that would allow Burnham to become leader without forcing an leadership ballot, Streeting implied he was ruling this out.

He replied: “Yes, I’ve said there should be a debate, I’ve said there should be a contest.”But, to stand, Streeting would have to get 80 MPs to formally back him. While he does have significant support, some of his backers may not want the party to go ahead with a formal election that would last weeks.

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