What IS the Government's secret for funding its ambitious plans? It's Andy Burnham's fag packet arithmetic...

Published: 18:41, 22 July 2026 | Updated: 18:41, 22 July 2026 AS HE trumpeted his £2 bus fare stunt yesterday, Andy Burnham stood in front of a double-decker emblazoned with the legend: ‘Funded by UK Government’. Of course, this was completely misleading because this attention-grabbing manoeuvre - like everything else announced by Mr Burnham since he received the keys to No 10 - will ultimately be paid for by the taxes of industrious Britons. Yet as an illustration of how socialist governments operate on the basis that all public money is theirs to do with exactly as they please, the image could hardly have been more appropriate. Even as the Prime Minister was boasting about his decision to cap fares, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander admitted that the ‘detail’ of where the £454million funding is coming from ‘hasn’t been worked through’ yet. Needless to say, this all looks decidedly unpromising for any hope of proper financial governance under Mr Burnham’s stewardship. Just three days into his Downing Street tenancy and already a disturbing pattern seems to be emerging. Even as Andy Burnham was boasting about his decision to cap bus fares, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander admitted that the ‘detail’ of where the £454million funding is coming from ‘hasn’t been worked through’ yet It comes a day after the announcement on reduced energy bills was swiftly followed by the £850million funding appearing to unravel. Nor have we been greatly enlightened on the source of the hundreds of billions of pounds required to pay for other ambitious plans on the PM’s to-do list. There is an increasingly hollow ring to Mr Burnham’s diktat about Cabinet ministers needing to demonstrate how projects are being financed. Everything we have seen so far appears to have been scribbled on the back of a fag packet. DOES Mr Burnham have any sort of a strategy for tackling the Channel migrants crisis? If he does, he is keeping it to himself. Not a peep has been heard from him, either since he became Prime Minister or Labour leader, on the subject itself or what he intends to do about it. Yet as the endless flotilla crossing the water from France resumes following a brief respite, he can hardly maintain his silence for much longer. With more than 200,000 illegal arrivals here since the crisis began in 2018, it is arguably the biggest issue facing the Government. Millions of voters certainly see it in that light. It is beyond question that Sir Keir Starmer’s pig-headed decision to snuff out the Conservatives’ Rwanda scheme before its launch was a dreadful error of judgment. Paying a small fortune to the French to sort out the problem has, of course, amounted to throwing good money after bad. Before the Makerfield by-election, Mr Burnham praised Shabana Mahmood’s record on reducing boat crossings but insisted there was ‘more to be done’. It is about time he told us all what exactly he has in mind. WITH dangerous offenders being let out of prison after serving only a fraction of their sentences, never has Britain’s criminal justice system seemed more like a sick joke. It is bad enough that senior Cabinet figures such as Ms Mahmood and Wes Streeting find it appropriate to joke about the early-release programme. But as the killers of hero PC Andrew Harper prepare for freedom, it is even more shameful that – to borrow the words of his widow – ‘politicians are making decisions from behind a desk that will have real and lasting consequences for victims' families like mine’.