Reeves sends warning to incoming PM Burnham
Rachel Reeves has warned incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham that he will face “shocks and challenges” in Downing Street and must arrive with a “worked-through plan”, in what is likely to be her final major interview as Chancellor.
Speaking to BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Reeves said: “It is important that when Andy walks through that door he has a worked-through plan, because governing is hard in Britain, and lots of challenges and shocks will come his way.”
She added that Burnham, who takes office next week, “needs to stay laser-focused on those things that have always motivated him, have always driven him”.
The warning follows an admission earlier this month from Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer’s former top aide, that Labour was not prepared for government after its landslide victory in July 2024. “We didn’t prepare enough for what kind of world we were going to,” he told the BBC.
“I think we didn’t have enough conversations at the top of the party about what that meant, how to prepare for it, what that meant for the state.”
Burnham secured the premiership earlier this week with 322 nominations from Labour MPs. His pledges include widespread devolution, reindustrialisation, returning more public services to public control, and prioritising UK defence spending, which he said would be his “first priority” in No 10.
Households will be watching the handover closely, with inflation still above the Bank of England’s target and expected to rise, and the Bank warning this week that interest rates may need to go up again.
The latest ONS figures show disposable income falling, keeping pressure on family budgets through the transition of power.
Reeves, who has campaigned to stay on as Chancellor, is expected to be replaced when Burnham unveils his cabinet. She revealed she had nominated Burnham and said Starmer’s premiership ended because people are “impatient for change”.
“I’m impatient for change, and I totally get that people want to see their lives changed,” she said.
Former transport secretary and Burnham campaign manager Louise Haigh said this week that the Makerfield MP had been planning a leadership bid for at least a year. Reeves called this “perfectly reasonable”, adding: “Andy has never shied away from the fact that he wanted to at some point lead the Labour party. And I want him to be ready for that.”
In what is expected to be her last major act as Chancellor, Reeves will use a Mansion House address on Tuesday to expand the Growth Guarantee Scheme to around 12,000 more small and medium-sized businesses.
The scheme provides a 70% government guarantee on commercial loans of up to £2m and will support an additional £2 billion in lending by the end of the 2028 financial year.
