Burnham opposes digital ID and defends economic agenda after Reeves’ swipe

Andy Burnham said he opposed plans for digital ID and rejected suggestions he was “hopeless” on the economy as he defended his recent interventions in national politics.

The Greater Manchester mayor said “not now” when asked if he was in favour of rolling out the identity system announced by the Prime Minister last week.

And he left the door open for a future leadership bid, insisting “you would have to wrench” him out of the northwest but refusing to rule out the prospect of leaving his mayoralty behind before the end of the term.

Speaking at an event on the fringes of Labour’s annual conference hosted by the Guardian Politics podcast live, Mr Burnham hit back at criticism of his recent headline-grabbing proposals for changes to tax and spend.

“I reject entirely this idea that I’m sort of hopeless and I’ve no idea about how to make it add up,” he said.

“I’m doing it every day in Greater Manchester. No-one ever says Greater Manchester is run in a financially imprudent way.”

It comes after ministers appeared to liken his economic agenda, which includes a call for some £40 billion earmarked for housing to be spent exclusively on council homes, to the policies of Liz Truss.

In a broadcast round ahead of her conference speech in Liverpool, Rachel Reeves suggested the mayor was at risk of echoing the former Tory premier, whose mini-budget panicked the markets and sent the pound tumbling.

“If he’s saying… anybody that says you can just borrow more, I do think that risks going the way of Liz Truss,” the Chancellor told LBC.

Mr Burnham, a former New Labour minister and ex-MP for Leigh, insisted his proposals had been misreported.

He had pitched the policies, which include reform of land value taxation and council tax, in a series of interviews with national media during which he refused to rule out a tilt at Sir Keir Starmer’s job.

Speaking on Monday, he sought to address “the sense I’m completely out for myself, disloyal”, citing behind-the-scenes work he says he has been doing to help progress the Government’s Hillsborough legislation.

“It sticks in my throat somewhat for people who have just arrived on the scene to be throwing some of the comments at me that they have done,” he said.

“I did everything that I possibly could (have) to make this conference a success.”

He said he had instead been seeking to provoke a wider debate within Labour about the party’s direction ahead of local elections next May, as the Government faces a sustained lag behind Reform UK in the polls.

“While the Government’s done good things, I don’t think it’s come together yet as that powerful story of the future of Britain,” Mr Burnham said.

Asked whether he would finish his full term as mayor, he said: “I am committed to my role as mayor of Greater Manchester.

“I can’t predict the future.”

He added: “There’s no ability for me to launch… I’m not going to go and say every conversation I have with every MP.

“I can’t launch a leadership campaign, I’m not in Parliament, so that is the bottom line.”

In a quickfire round of questions, he distanced from the Government’s pledge to introduce digital ID by 2029 and said he wanted to see the UK rejoin the EU within his lifetime.

Asked whether he supported the ID system, he said: “Not now”, while on on Brussels he said his “long-term” goal would be to seek to return.

“People prosper more when they’re part of unions,” he told the audience.

Mr Burnham insisted he supported the Prime Minister at another event later in the day, saying he believed Sir Keir was the right person to lead the Labour Party.

Explaining his resistance to digital ID, he said it was because the previous Labour government in which he served had encountered difficulties in seeking to push similar plans through.

“I think there’s a risk of an opportunity cost situation here, where something can consume a huge amount of time and actually doesn’t come through,” he said.

“And that will be the lesson about 2005 to 2010 parliament, it consumed a lot of air time and it didn’t actually materialise.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Mr Burnham was a team player “on his best days” but “he’s had his ups and downs in recent days”.

But Mr Streeting said he agreed with some of Mr Burnham’s comments about the culture of the party.

He told a Sky News fringe event: “I actually think some of the stuff he was saying yesterday about culture of the party and having space for pluralism and debate about direction and being open to challenge and being confident in terms of debate, I’d agree with him there.”

But he said Mr Burnham’s claim that there was a “climate of fear” in Labour was an “overstatement”.