Andy Burnham’s government will continue to function normally while the new prime minister is away on holiday, Downing Street has said.<\/p>\n
Burnham is taking a break from his day-to-day duties to spend time with his family, after entering No 10 two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
His official spokesman has said he will remain in direct contact with officials and continue to hold meetings while away from Downing Street. <\/p>\n
But Reform UK’s chairman Lee Anderson has criticised Burnham for going on holiday so soon after taking office, saying: “This isn’t a prime minister that’s serious about leading.”<\/p>\n
He accused the new prime minister of having “bunked off” after “dropping a number of unfunded commitments and overseeing over 2,000 illegal migrants breaking into our country”, in reference to a raft of policy announcements made in Burnham’s first two weeks.<\/p>\n
But Justice Secretary Alex Norris defended Burnham’s decision. <\/p>\n
“The prime minister is having a few days away with his family,” he told Sky News on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
“He will be in constant contact with his office. I mean, I might gently say that I’ve spoken to him virtually every day since I joined the cabinet, and I suspect that won’t change.”<\/p>\n
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she would not criticise Burnham for taking a holiday so soon into the job, but insisted he should have recalled Parliament after becoming prime minister in order to face scrutiny from MPs.<\/p>\n
“Andy Burnham was running away from Parliament – he can’t run away forever, I’m not going to be giving him a holiday when we come back in September,” she told reporters on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Burnham’s holiday, the location of which is not known, follows a blitz of announcements during his first two weeks in office. <\/p>\n
This included a cut to VAT on household electricity bills<\/a> and business rate cuts for pubs<\/a>, reinstating a \u00a32 bus fare cap in England<\/a> and holding initial cross-party talks on social care reform.<\/a><\/p>\n He has also established a “No 10 North” base in Manchester, and announced plans to allocate English city mayors a share of income tax<\/a> in exchange for grant funding from central government.<\/p>\n