The Labour Party

All six parties are asked the same questions in the same order, so their answers can be read against each other. Positions are the party’s own; anything in the grey line beneath is our note on where a policy is contested or short on detail.

1. 01

   Immigration & asylum

   Who gets to come here, who gets to stay, and what happens to people who arrive without permission.

   Burnham voted for and continues to back Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's immigration reforms, which reshape the asylum appeals process and remove barriers to deportation. The government points to the 43% year-on-year fall in Channel crossings as evidence that enforcement co-operation with France is working.

   He has not set out an approach distinct from the one he inherited, and Ipsos finds the public unconvinced the government will deliver on immigration.

2. 02

   Tax & the economy

   Who pays what, and what the state can afford as a result.

   Action on the income tax personal allowance, frozen at £12,570 — which Burnham called "the thing I heard most on the doorsteps". Business rates would rise on large warehouses while high-street shops and pubs are exempted. He has not ruled out a wealth tax.

   A £4.7bn gap in the existing spending plan is to be "confirmed at Budget 2026", so the funding is not yet set out.

3. 03

   NHS & social care

   How healthcare and care for older and disabled people are funded and delivered.

   A publicly funded national care service, which Burnham has framed as finally "grasping the nettle" on social care reform and links to his father's Alzheimer's. The Tobacco and Vapes Act, passed in April 2026, makes it illegal to sell cigarettes to anyone born after 2008.

4. 04

   Housing

   Whether enough homes get built, who builds them, and who can afford one.

   Burnham's stated "first instruction" on entering Downing Street was to end rough sleeping. He has promised the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period, using vacant public land to hold costs down, with higher-density development in existing towns.

5. 05

   Crime & justice

   Policing, sentencing and prisons — how much punishment, and how much prevention.

   3,000 additional neighbourhood officers and PCSOs within twelve months, with dedicated teams patrolling town centres at peak times to end what the government calls the policing "postcode lottery". Burnham points to his Greater Manchester record: 8,271 officers by March 2026, around 2,000 more than when he took office in 2017, alongside a 15% fall in neighbourhood crime.

6. 06

   Energy & net zero

   How fast Britain cuts carbon emissions, what it costs, and who bears the cost.

   Removing policy levies from energy bills, worth roughly £130 a year to a household, at a cost to the taxpayer of about £3.2bn a year.

7. 07

   Education

   Schools, universities and skills — funding, standards and who pays for what.

   VAT has been charged at the standard 20% rate on private school fees since 1 January 2025, removing a long-standing exemption. The Treasury forecast the measure would raise £1.51bn in 2025/26.

   The government's own forecast expected 37,000 pupils — about 6% of the private sector — to move into state schools as a result. Several large private schools responded by sharply expanding bursaries.

8. 08

   Defence & foreign policy

   Military spending, NATO, the nuclear deterrent and Britain's alliances.

   Maintaining the NATO commitment and the nuclear deterrent, and upgrading equipment through a defence investment plan.

9. 09

   Europe & the constitution

   The relationship with the EU, membership of international courts, and how power is distributed within the UK.

   Having previously supported rejoining the EU, Burnham now says he will avoid a "permanent rut" of that argument, seeking closer co-operation on defence, illegal migration and economic security instead. Domestically his defining project is devolution: a "No 10 in the North" based in Manchester, and water, transport and housing brought under stronger public control short of full nationalisation.

10. 10

    Media & culture

    The BBC, broadcasting, and contested questions of national identity and religious practice.

    The government is committed to the licence fee until the end of the current BBC charter, while its royal charter review considers reform of the fee and greater commercial revenue for the corporation. A public consultation closed in March 2026 and a white paper is expected later in the year.

Positions are summarised from each party’s published material and reporting of it, not from a full manifesto reading, and platforms move. How we work.