Five big challenges facing Burnham - and how he might tackle them

Here is the latest breaking news from around the world: Five big challenges facing Andy Burnham - and how he might tackle themByBen ChuPolicy and Analysis correspondent, VerifyPublished15 minutes agoWhen Andy Burnham enters No 10 Downing Street, he will inherit some formidable and complex problems that successive prime ministers and governments have attempted to address - mostly without success. Verify has looked at five big policy challenges Burnham will face and the approaches he might take to address them. Welfare: Cutting £58bn sickness and disability billImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, The cost of sickness and disability benefits for people of working age has grown rapidly since the Covid pandemic and now stands at around £58bn a year, external.

And it's projected to rise to £78bn a year by 2030, external. The biggest driver of the increase is the number of people claiming Personal Independence Payments (Pip) - a working age benefit designed to support people with disabilities that increase their living costs. The number of people claiming Pip is forecast to rise from four million today, to five million by 2030, external.

The Details

The share of people who are younger and claiming Pip for mental health problems or neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD is also rising fast. The previous Conservative government attempted to reform the working age disability welfare system but the cost continued to rise during their time in office, external. Last year, Sir Keir Starmer's government tried to reduce the Pip bill by £5bn a year by 2030 by tightening eligibility - but had to do a U-turn after a revolt by Labour MPs.

A recent interim report by the disability minister, Sir Stephen Timms, external, co-produced with disability groups, accepts that Pip is "not fit for purpose". The final Timms report is expected to propose reforms to the system later this year, which Burnham could adopt. There has been speculation, external this could involve offering young people with mental health problems therapy or other support rather than cash.

But there remains the risk of backlash from disability groups and potentially Labour MPs if the reforms are considered unfair. Burnham has recently said, external he does want to reduce the welfare bill, but by encouraging people into work and not through "crude cuts". Defence: Finding £9bn extra a yearImage source, Getty ImagesAfter a delay of almost a year, Starmer finally published the government's Defence Investment Plan in June.

What Experts Say

This led to an outcry in some quarters because it only took defence spending to 2. And it was not fully funded, requiring savings to be extracted from other Whitehall departments. The pressure on Burnham to lift defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030 from the former defence secretary John Healey, who resigned over the issue, and the defence establishment will continue.

But this would cost an additional £9bn a year relative to the current plans. Another challenge for Burnham is the new Nato target of raising defence spending to 3.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.