Andy Burnham had been blasted by the Conservative Party Chairman ahead of his first Prime Minister’s Questions later today.
Speaking to GB News, Kevin Hollinrake hit out at the Prime Minister following his speech to MPs in the House of Commons, arguing that the Labour leader “rambled on”.
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Mr Burnham took to the despatch box to deliver his first statement in the House of Commons since becoming Prime Minister.
He paid tribute to his predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, who had earlier announced he will be stepping down as an MP, before declaring Britain is “not where any of us would wish it to be”.
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The Prime Minister said: “Things are not working as they should. Life is too expensive and too hard for too many.
“This is why this Government’s first moves were to give businesses and people a little breathing space.”
Reacting to the speech, Mr Hollinrake told GB News that we’ve so far “heard very little yet in terms of what Andy Burnham’s actual plans will be”.
He said: “Andy Burnham is a nice guy, but I thought his speech yesterday was very rambling. He talked about hope, but hope is not a strategy. What you need is good leadership, you need a good team and you need a plan.
“We’ve heard very little yet in terms of what Andy Burnham’s actual plans will be. We’ve offered to work with him to try and turn the fortunes of this country around, and that’s around cutting the cost of doing Government and cutting the cost of welfare so you can cut taxes.”
The Tory Chairman argued that Britons have “no idea” how Mr Burnham is going to “tackle the significant problems” facing the country.
He said: “Things like scrapping stamp duty, scrapping business rates for the vast majority of pubs and shops and restaurants, and properly funding defence, that’s what he needs to do.
“We’ve absolutely no idea how he’s going to tackle the significant problems we have in our economy and in terms of wider problems, things like protecting our borders. So we’ll be holding Andy Burnham to account every step of the way.”
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Challenged on Kemi Badenoch’s response to Mr Burnham’s speech, Mr Hollinrake was pressed on whether she failed to deliver “tough medicine” to the PM.
He responded: “No, I don’t agree with that. She asked him some very key questions about things like welfare reform, about cutting taxes, and about funding defence; she got absolutely no answers to those questions.
“I think you’ll find today at Prime Minister’s Questions she’s going to keep banging on about those things until we get clear answers about how we turn things around in this country.”
Mr Hollinrake made clear: “There are some really serious challenges we have, both in terms of the economic prospects the cost of living for households.
“We are seeing households now that are suffering under the burden of of extra taxes, £3,500 pounds of taxes per household on average, right across the UK. All these things need to be addressed. You will see Kemi Badenoch holding him to account with her team every step of the way.”
Reflecting on Sir Keir’s resignation, Mr Hollinrake wished the ex-Prime Minister well, but argued that the decision is his “final U-turn”.
He told GB News: “He’s been known for his U-turns, and this seems to be his final U-turn, doesn’t it? He said he wasn’t going to resign, and now he has. But politics is a tough place to be.
“All politicians enter politics for the right reasons, you don’t always get it right, but what I think people should say to Keir Starmer is we appreciate his service and we wish him and his family well in the future.”
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