Labour<\/a> members in Liverpool. But government insiders and other Labour figures cast doubt over the lack of detail about policy on investment and growth or any pitch-rolling for possible tax rises.<\/p>\nOne senior Labour politician said: \u201cI missed any real sense of growth and investment, which Rachel [Reeves, the former chancellor] often emphasised, despite her faults \u2013 when business leaders speak to me, that\u2019s what they were waiting to hear, and we got nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Labour MP lamented the fact that on tax and spending Healey had gone little further than reiterating the fiscal rules. \u201cIt was Rachel\u2019s speech delivered by John,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
One senior Labour insider said they believed the chancellor was risking a fresh market shock on 28 October if he was not willing to be clearer about his approach to taxation, headroom and spending.<\/p>\n
Market moves since the spring are expected to have wiped out at least half of the \u00a324bn \u201cheadroom\u201d, or buffer, Reeves had built up against Labour\u2019s fiscal rules.<\/p>\n
Healey is believed to be minded to accept a slimmer margin, but he gave no indication of his likely approach in his speech, aside from repeatedly stressing the need for discipline. Rebuilding the headroom in full could require significant tax increases or spending cuts.<\/p>\n
Prof Arun Advani, the director of the centre for the analysis of taxation at the University of Warwick, said: \u201cThe chancellor didn\u2019t give us a sense of how he\u2019s thinking about these issues. It was a speech where at the end of it we didn\u2019t come away understanding more about the direction of policy, or what he wants to do with the Treasury.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are concerns, too, about how Healey will tough out demands to say when the UK will spend 3% of GDP on defence \u2013 having resigned as defence secretary three months ago over the issue.<\/p>\n
Treasury sources have said Healey was intimately involved in some of Burnham\u2019s significant conference announcements. Photograph: Michael Bowles\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
Treasury sources stressed that Healey was intimately involved in some of Andy Burnham\u2019s significant conference announcements, with 40 officials working at the department through the weekend on the details of the triple lock pension changes.<\/p>\n
They also pointed out that the chancellor opened the door to a renewed attempt to overhaul welfare for the young unemployed \u2013 a fraught issue for Labour \u2013 and stressed his determination to present an optimistic picture of the UK economy.<\/p>\n
Healey\u2019s team are committed to avoiding the rollercoaster of leaks that happened in the run-up to Reeves\u2019s budgets, particularly last year.<\/p>\n
The Treasury team have initiated military-style \u201cblack boxes\u201d \u2013 learned from Healey\u2019s time in the Ministry of Defence \u2013 for different teams to work within to avoid accidental leaks.<\/p>\n
They also remain committed to what one called a \u201ctightly focused\u201d budget, though they concede that offering voters more \u201cbreathing space\u201d on energy costs had become more urgent.<\/p>\n
The narrow focus of the statement is expected to rule out radical changes to property and capital gains taxes previously mooted by Burnham supporters including the first secretary, Louise Haigh; though reports that Healey is calling in bank bosses next week has reignited speculation of a windfall tax on the sector.<\/p>\n
Labour MPs fear that failing to take more drastic action, particularly on surging energy prices, could leave voters nonplussed. One MP said: \u201cThe budget is only a few weeks away. He may want it to be low key but it will send a massive signal of our intent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some in Labour circles are concerned that Burnham\u2019s focus on long-term issues such as social care will suck up political airtime without helping the immediate crisis. Photograph: PA Images\/Alamy<\/p>\n
Others are concerned that Burnham\u2019s focus on long-term issues such as social care and public ownership of utilities will suck up political airtime without helping with the immediate crisis.<\/p>\n
Alfie Stirling, the director of policy and insight at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: \u201cThe focus on \u2018room to breathe\u2019 now, alongside the focus on taking greater control over the costs of essentials over the longer term, is the right strategy for government. But families are currently facing the worst parliament on modern record for real incomes and they simply cannot wait three years for government to grip this in the here and now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several Labour figures pointed to Burnham\u2019s last-minute decision to appoint Healey as one factor making the chancellor\u2019s job harder, giving him little time to build up an effective team before the budget.<\/p>\n
Rav Athwal, an economist and the author of Labour\u2019s 2024 manifesto, has only just joined Healey as a senior special adviser. Reeves\u2019s chief economic adviser, Neil Amin-Smith, was poached by No 10.<\/p>\n
One Treasury insider said: \u201cHe\u2019s slow to get through his boxes and it\u2019s hard to get meetings in the diary because he needs time to prepare before each one. It all feels a bit underpowered.\u201d<\/p>\n
But another Labour figure defended him: \u201cJohn got virtually no notice he was getting this job. He\u2019s not an economist. He didn\u2019t have two years in opposition to prepare. It\u2019s early days and the Treasury is there to support him. He\u2019s very capable \u2013 just give him time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senior Labour figures are privately voicing unease about John Healey\u2019s approach to his crucial first budget this month,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":789151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-789150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}