Andy’s New Order: Burnham dad dances to 80s Manchester band as he plans to hand income tax powers to Labour mayors
Andy Burnham has taken over as Labour leader and marked the moment by dancing to New Order, the Manchester band, reflecting his strong regional identity as he sets out an agenda that includes devolving income tax powers to metro mayors. The plans form part of a wider pledge to roll back Thatcherite policies, signalling a shift towards greater fiscal devolution for regional Labour administrations such as his own in Greater Manchester.
Burnham has also indicated he is willing to "expend a lot of political capital" on a controversial funding mechanism for social care, dubbed a "death tax" by critics, prompting warnings from opponents. Amid the reshuffle following his elevation, Angela Rayner has been tipped for a political comeback as Health Secretary after a separate tax scandal, underlining the wider changes taking shape within the party's top ranks.
- Burnham becomes Labour leader, dances to New Order at celebration
- Plans to devolve income tax powers to regional mayors
- Considering "death tax" for social care funding, sparking warnings
New here? Start with this
Andy Burnham has been elevated to lead the Labour Party, moving from his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester into national leadership. He is closely associated with Manchester's identity and music heritage, hence the New Order reference, and has built his political reputation on devolving power away from Westminster to regional mayors like himself.
A central plank of his platform is giving metro mayors control over income tax, a significant break from how UK tax has traditionally been set centrally by the Treasury. He has also signalled support for a new way of funding social care that critics have labelled a "death tax", a term used for charges or levies applied to a person's estate after death to help pay for care costs.
His rise has triggered wider changes at the top of the party, including talk of Angela Rayner returning to a senior role as Health Secretary following a separate tax-related controversy that had affected her position. These shifts matter because they could reshape how much financial and policy control regional leaders have compared with central government, and who holds the most influential posts in Labour's top team.