Daily Mail columnist Stephen Glover writes that while Andy Burnham's upbeat manner as the new Prime Minister is a welcome contrast to Sir Keir Starmer's gloominess, he fears Burnham's early spending pledges show a lack of fiscal seriousness. Glover argues Burnham took power without a mandate or clearly explained policies, and after just a week in office is already promising a raft of costly giveaways without any indication of how they will be funded.

Burnham has pledged to remove VAT from domestic electricity bills, cap bus fares at £2, end rough sleeping and cut business rates for pubs and music venues, policies Glover puts at a combined cost of around £1.7 billion. He warns this is only the start, noting expected announcements on adult social care (estimated at £18.7 billion a year by the Health Foundation), youth employment and defence spending, where reaching 3% of GDP by 2030 could cost an extra £10 billion annually, all while Burnham has given no sign of where savings might be found.