Andy Burnham pushes back on immediate changes to income tax allowance

Andy Burnham has said there is no immediate commitment to increase the income tax personal allowance as a means of easing the cost of living, despite appearing open to changes just days earlier.

But the new Prime Minister suggested increasing the £12,570 tax-free personal allowance would be something that the Government will look at in the Budget this year.

It came as Mr Burnham reversed a decision to increase the bus fare cap to £3 made by his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer.

During a visit to Bath, the Prime Minister said his £2 England-wide bus cap would “really help people with the cost-of-living pressures they’re facing”.

Asked by broadcasters during the visit whether he was planning to change the income tax allowance, the Prime Minister said: “Well, it’s funny these days you can’t answer a question honestly without then people reading everything else into it.”

He added: “I want to answer questions honestly in this job, as I said before.

“I think that’s all about trust in politics and doing politics differently, and I’m determined to keep keep working in that way.

“It was raised a lot, but I then went on to say, ‘But we’ll have to look at it at the budget alongside everything else’. So no commitment, no unfunded promise.

“It’s just perhaps the way politics is these days and the way people report things, but that was an honest answer. There is no commitment at this point to change, but we will look at that at the budget.”

Mr Burnham had suggested earlier this week he was open to increasing the income tax allowance as a means of easing cost-of-living pressures, after claiming “frustration” about it had come up while knocking doors during the Makerfield by-election.

When asked if tax rises were likely at the Budget to pay for his cost of living policy blitz, he replied: “No, we’ll take decisions on tax at the budget. This is about reprioritising in this phase.

“As I say, going to the public’s priorities, the cost-of-living crisis, the housing crisis.

“How much longer are we going to talk about these things without actually doing something to help people?

“And already in the space of a few days, I’ve made a number of moves that will deal with some of these challenges, although I appreciate there’s a lot more to do.”