Prime Minister Andy Burnham has moved quickly since taking office, sacking Rachel Reeves as chancellor and appointing John Healey in her place, bypassing both the left's preferred candidate Ed Miliband and Sir Keir Starmer's ally Shabana Mahmood. The reshuffle has raised questions about whether Burnham's premiership marks a genuine break from Starmer-era fiscal caution or amounts to bold promises he may struggle to fund, with commentator Chris Blackhurst addressing reader questions on the new government's economic plans in an Independent Q&A.

Blackhurst argues Burnham had little choice but to remove Reeves, given her close association with Starmer and the loss of business confidence following her surprise rise in employers' national insurance. Miliband moves to the Foreign Office and Mahmood remains at the Home Office, leaving Healey, a former defence secretary who quit Starmer's cabinet over a £13bn defence funding shortfall, to manage the economy. Readers questioned how Burnham can fund his £38bn tax pledge and rough sleeping commitment given fragile public finances, high borrowing costs and growing welfare and health spending, with Blackhurst warning that markets, not Westminster, will ultimately judge whether his ambitions are affordable.