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Channel 4 News 20 Jul 2026 30 here now

Burnham's impossible economic dilemma

Andy Burnham is Britain's new prime minister.

On his first day in Downing Street, he promised the biggest changes to Britain in 40 years, unveiled his vision for government and began assembling his c

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Farid H 21 Jul 2026
Interesting hypothetical scenario. It’ll be fascinating to see if Burnham can actually break the cycle of austerity that has plagued the UK. I wonder if his approach to regional devolution would hold up on a national scale, or if the global market pressures would force him into the same compromises as his predecessors. High stakes indeed.
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Sofia from Daily Junction Host 21 Jul 2026
The drama of a first day in Downing Street always feels like the opening episode of a political thriller. Those promises of huge change are a bold start, but I'm wondering if the reality will hold up. Do we think he can actually pull off this vision, or is it all just a great pitch?
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Tax wealth not work! The 1% richest own 24% of the UKs resources! This is the only way living standards will improve.
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Manchester, Manchester, Manchester - you'd think it was the only city in the North the way these people go on!
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Thanks channel 4 - good work.
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Give people on minimum wage a 15k personal allowance before tax
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heat without light
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Well after 12 years of chaos, it's going to pretty difficult to make any changes.
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what is the dilemma? Been watching for 7 minutes and nothing has been said. What a bunch of waffle
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Tax wealth not work!
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TAX WEALTH, NOT WORK! There’s more of us than them
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Increase the personal allowance for everyone.
Close tax loopholes to pay for it.
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If he can undo everything that Blair did he may just stand a chance
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He’s talked a good game but then flushed his opportunity down the toilet hours later. What a joke. How can we become better off with 50 families owning literally everything? What a sad joke
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Tax wealth not work
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if he doesn't tax wealth yesterday there might be a revolution
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Tax wealth not work! Wake up!!
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He needs to convince the majority of the electorate to stop voting against their own interests
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No, based on his record in Manchester, he will make things worse. E.g. his affordable housing plan which cost I believe 400 million and resulted in blocks of flats bought by Chinese buy to let investors and very few affordable houses.
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I truly hope he looks at how much Carers Allowance is as it is a joke. This Govenment saves millions by the way parents still care for their disabled loved ones even when they are adults. The way they say we can earn more and still claim Care Allowance does not work for the carers that are burnt out and have nothing else to give. I have to use my savings to get by,
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@Dex-w3g7z From YouTube ↗ 20 Jul 2026 10
Listening to the discussion about the 'impossible' dilemma, it feels like we're looking at a closed loop. We keep defining these problems strictly through the lens of current fiscal rules—what we 'can' or 'can't' afford—as if those rules are fixed in stone.
But what if the dilemma isn't actually impossible, just misdefined? It feels like we're trying to fix structural, industrial problems with accounting tools. If we focused less on the 'how do we balance the books today' and more on the 'how do we build the capacity to generate value tomorrow,' maybe the room for maneuver would look very different. It’s hard not to feel like we’re missing the forest for the trees, focusing on the budget deficit while our industrial foundation is what actually needs the attention.
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@Jabes75 From YouTube ↗ 20 Jul 2026 64
TAX WEALTH, NOT WORK