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Message discipline is being emphasised inside the Treasury too.<\/p>\n
The biggest moment for the Burnham government this autumn will come on 28 October, when Chancellor John Healey unveils the Budget.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir and his chancellor Rachel Reeves were widely seen to have been damaged politically when many of the policies in their Budgets made their way into the media.<\/p>\n
In response, Burnham’s administration has put measures in place to try to stop those leaks and it’s understood the Treasury is telling officials that Budget security is like national security.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, speculation about the Budget is likely to dominate the coming weeks in Westminster, in particular questions about what taxes could potentially be increased.<\/p>\n
Burnham has repeatedly said he will keep Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledge not to increase income tax, VAT or national insurance.<\/p>\n
But the prime minister has also said there is “room for movement” on taxes within that pledge, leading the Conservatives to believe it’s a fruitful topic for political attacks.<\/p>\n
The Treasury is focused on creating a Budget that will not spook financial markets, with a senior source insisting the core themes of Healey’s plans would be “fiscal discipline” and “fiscal devolution”.<\/p>\n
Healey resigned as Sir Keir’s defence secretary over what he saw as a failure to adequately fund the armed forces.<\/p>\n
It now falls to him to find the money to fund the defence investment plan, with an extra \u00a34.7bn needed in the Budget.<\/p>\n
Healey is not expected to set out a path to spending 3% of GDP on defence in the Budget, and will instead wait until next spring’s Spending Review.<\/p>\n
When asked if there was nervousness about potentially annoying military chiefs, a senior Treasury source said you’d be “hard-placed to find anyone sceptical” of the idea that Healey is committed to keeping the country safe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n