Andy Burnham

[upbeat music] I'm Ed Vaysie, and we're gonna be unpacking the politics of the day from the legacy of nine eleven to whether voters will lose patience with Andy Burnham over the cost of living, and also whether it's okay to jump the queue for the Bayeux Tapestry.

Getting their elbows out and barging into the studio are the opinion and features editor at City AM, Alice Denby.

Hello.

[laughs]

[laughs]

Well, I wonder what his opinion is of the economic challenge that Andy Burnham is facing.

Uh, he did get some good news today.

The economy grew by nought point four percent in July.

Um, and [laughs] which, which is, seems to have come, happen quicker every year, but then maybe that's 'cause I'm getting older.

Um, we're gonna be discussing Andy Burnham as well because he's been in the press quite a lot in the last couple of months, well, last few weeks particularly, uh, about agriculture in the press.

Um, and I think probably more so than, uh, any, any prime minister before him in recent history, so that's good news.

Um, we're also gonna be talking about Back British Farming Day, which happened yesterday.

summer.Yeah. We'll be talking about that more in depth later on, uh, that we're gonna be looking to, uh, what we've learned, I guess, from, from this summer.

Um, and it still, still hurts quite a lot at the moment.

Um, but we're moving on now to, um, Andy Burnham.

There's a man that we haven't mentioned much of this, this year.

The Occupied Territories Bill still lurks in the background of Irish politics.

This week, Andy Burnham, the British Prime Minister, and his, his Foreign Minister, uh, Ed Miliband, announced significant sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Harry, is that the same thing as is proposed in the Occupied Territories Bill?

Much the same thing.

yeah

have refused slavery reparations as Jamaica urges the king to act call me surprised the United Kingdom's government has reliterated that it rejects reparations for Britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade as Jamaica has petitioned King Charles III over the issue Prime Minister Andy Burnham's spokesperson said on Monday that the UK does not and will not pay reparations.

Successive British governments have refused to engage in discussions about slavery reparations while accepting that the country significantly benefited from the trade.

UK leaders have previously acknowledged the horrors of slavery and continue to do so, but have never formally apologized for Britain's role in sustaining it.

In other news, British MPs are today set to vote again on an assisted dying bill as protesters both for and against the proposed legislation gathered outside Parliament.

New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he will sit out the vote so as to not unduly influence the debate.

Yemen's Houthis today took over a Red Sea island in the middle of the Bab al-Mandeb shipping lane, completing their push to control the area.

Hundreds of people have died since the Iran-backed Houthis launched an offensive last week against Riyadh-backed Yemeni government forces around Bab al-Mandeb.

The Occupied Territories Bill still lurks in the background of Irish politics.

This week, Andy Burnham, the British Prime Minister, and his Foreign Minister, Ed Miliband, announced significant sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Harry, is that the same thing as is proposed in the Occupied Territories Bill?

Much the same thing.

And in the next couple of weeks, I'll tick off a couple more.

Now, Irish governments down through the years have tried to adjust, Ambassador, to the changing policies of seven prime ministers.

How do you see the current relationship between our two countries?

It's really, really strong.

I mean, there's no doubt that we went through some hard yards during the Brexit years, but I think since the previous prime minister came in, Keir Starmer, and actually Rishi Sunak before him, there's been a really determined effort to make sure that this relationship is as good as it could be.

We're very lucky that we have had two summits over the last two years.

That's when not only the prime ministers get together but also they bring along some of their most senior colleagues so that we can really make sure that the two systems are working as ambitiously and as closely as possible.

A whole range of issues that are utterly critical to the future of our countries.

Hi everybody and welcome back here for another podcast on a Friday, another original podcast.

And I want to talk to you in this one about the fact that you heard Andy Burnham stand up in the Commons a few days back and talk about that social security, in his opinion, is as important as national security.

So in other words, welfare is as important as defence.

And as you know, this country already spends an excessively large amount of your taxes on welfare.

Anywhere that tries to charge me a tourist tax, I will do my most, my level best to avoid.

So how does this grow the economy, Andy Burnham? No, it doesn't grow anything apart from the fact it enables local mayors and local councils to scrape more revenue from the already under duress British taxpayer.

We shouldn't be paying a tourist tax within our own country.

How are we tourists within our own country? Well, the fact of the matter is that this treats us exactly as that.