Overview
- Parliament returned on Tuesday and Andy Burnham will deliver his first formal statement to MPs and face his inaugural Prime Minister’s Questions this week, shifting his leadership into direct parliamentary accountability.
- Downing Street has already delivered short-term cost relief by removing VAT from domestic electricity bills and capping bus fares at £2 to give households quick savings.
- Justice Secretary Alex Norris will announce changes to an early-release scheme that exclude the killers of PC Andrew Harper after public outcry, part of a package aimed at easing chronic prison overcrowding.
- Chancellor John Healey has postponed firm timing for meeting a 3% of GDP defence-spending goal until the spending review and Burnham must show how he will fund pledges before the October 28 budget under tight public finances.
- Burnham retains a post-election poll bounce but faces internal Labour tensions over plans for greater public control of utilities and controversial North Sea drilling decisions that could test his coalition of unions, environmentalists and pro-growth figures while he hosts European and transatlantic leaders.