'The room for manoeuvre wasn't what I would have hoped'

Andy Burnham's first budget as prime minister was not as radical as he would have liked, the premier conceded on Friday. Speaking to ITV, he pointed to external events beyond his control, among them the war in Iran, which has pushed up the government's borrowing costs, as the reason the fiscal package could not match his ambitions.

Burnham added that the volatility of current conditions means a government cannot necessarily deliver the budget that, in an ideal world, it would want. He also argued that no prime minister or chancellor would ever describe a budget as the one they had hoped for, because a budget is by definition a very difficult thing.

What the budget actually contained

Chancellor John Healey announced a range of relatively inexpensive measures when he delivered the budget on Wednesday. The headline measure for households is a £100 payment for most households to help with energy bills this winter. Burnham defended the scale of the package, saying a payment reaching 20 million households is quite a significant step, and that asking banks to repay the help they received 20 or so years ago was a big call.

Around the main statement, the government has favoured smaller announcements it says give voters breathing space, including:

• •tax cuts on energy bills
• •lower bus fares
• •fines for people playing music out loud on public transport

Burnham has nonetheless faced criticism for not doing enough on issues including defence spending, welfare cuts and cost-of-living support.

The manifesto box he says he is stuck in

One constraint Burnham identified is the programme Labour fought the 2024 election on. He noted that the manifesto, which delivered the party's landslide victory, ruled out raising income tax, national insurance or VAT - the major levers a government would otherwise reach for.

He was candid that he would not have written the current Labour manifesto exactly as it stands, but said he would seek his own mandate when the time comes.

Welfare reform is the next fight

With the budget delivered, Burnham has turned his attention to the benefits system. He told ITV he wants major changes that would prevent most young people from having to claim benefits at all, and said he does not want to see anyone in their 20s on benefits unless they are unable to work due to disability.

Those changes, he said, would not involve what he called brutal cuts that leave people in absolute crisis. Detailed welfare reform plans will be set out in the coming months, after two major reports on the system - one by the former minister Alan Milburn and one by Stephen Timms - have been published.