Between Quick Wins and Grand Ambitions: Burnham’s Defining Test

Yet the widespread expectation that the Budget would slip past quickly and escape notice has drawn the Treasury’s attention. A Budget is never a minor event; it sets billions of pounds in motion through decisions on taxes and spending.

There are also likely to be additional taxes on banks, measures aimed at removing some business regulation—particularly for small businesses—a larger role for local leaders under the banner of devolution, and renewed action on energy bills, which have begun to rise again.

John Healey has made his position clear publicly and privately to his staff: he wants to encourage people with the courage and determination to start a business. One source said: “If you are advancing the government’s ‘Talk up Britain’ mantra, you cannot then say, ‘Nothing to see here.’”

Whatever else the chancellor brings in his red box, ministers should not expect him to arrive with all the solutions to the country’s well-documented problems, whether that means growing the economy more convincingly, addressing gaps in defence spending, welfare, or social care, or finding new ways to reduce the nation’s mounting debt more quickly.

One former minister suggested that even if Healey and Burnham had stumbled upon all the answers within a few months, it would not be possible to fix everything at once because of economic constraints.

They questioned: “Is he going to invest in growth? Is he going to put everything into the challenges people will face this winter? Is he going to turn to defence? There is not enough capacity to tackle all these problems simultaneously, and ministers will face the cold light of day.”

Burnham and Healey must find a way to maintain balance within an unusually upbeat Labour Party.

MPs report that ministers and Burnham himself have appeared more visible and approachable in Parliament, joining colleagues in the evenings and handing out fewer “golden slips” that excused ministers from voting alongside colleagues so they could focus on other priorities.

One minister told me they had had to instruct their private office not to arrange for them to be “slipped”—from attending the Commons in the evening to engaging with backbenchers.

The strategy appears to be paying off in the mood among MPs. One told me: “You no longer feel as though the only way you can ever have a chat with a minister is by arranging an appointment three months down the line—the soft touches really matter.”

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