Burnham’s policy choices reveal what kind of PM he wants to be

Later this week, he is expected to change the government’s stance on oil and gas exploitation, with a new energy secretary in place.

Those Labour MPs worried about the Green Party taking their seats will be concerned about this – but a lot more will be worried about whether this could be seen to be diluting the government’s commitment to net zero.

There was also a promise to do something about the cost of living, with more detail tomorrow on the “breathing space” he is offering hard pressed families.

Extending Manchester’s £2 bus fare cap would be a tangible step and also different from the £3 cap under Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.

With energy prices rising again, there may be action there.

The former minister, Miatta Fahnbulleh, has spent the past few weeks working on policy options. She is the former head of the New Economic Foundation think tank and it wants bolder cost of living measures – from rent controls to making bus journeys entirely free for under 25s.

The question though is whether Burnham will go beyond announcing specific policies and outline a broader vision.

He indicated in his speech that he would set out how the cost of living measures will be paid for. So will he make the greater argument – which he believes – that taxes on income are too high, taxes on wealth are too low?

Will he expand on his Times interview and pledge to raise tax thresholds at least for basic rate taxpayers, while pushing up capital gains tax?

He has pledged to stick to Rachel Reeves’s “fiscal rules,” which limit debt and borrowing – so it is likely to be “re-prioritisation” of existing spending rather than new money.

But that can still tell its own story about he intends to govern.

More widely, Andy Burnham has not exactly managed expectations.

He has promised nothing less than a new economic model, leaving behind an era of centralisation, privatisation and de-industrialisation.

Just as rough sleeping is meant to signal to party members where he stands, he will soon need to set out symbolic policies which reveal – to voters and the markets alike – what the economic reality will be behind the radical rhetoric.