Andy Burnham's promises and inherited black holes to cost taxpayer more than £250 BILLION

Andy Burnham's promises and inherited black holes are estimated to cost the British taxpayer more than £250billion.

Such expenditure is enough to fund a Greater Manchester mayoralty contest 50 times over.

On Monday, the Downing Street hopeful set out his 10-year plan to fix the "broken" Westminster system and kickstart his "devolution revolution".

He also set out the plan to launch the largest council house building programme since the postwar period, which would come to an estimate of somewhere between £8billion and £13billion to build 40,000 homes each year.

The MP also is considering the reversal of Rachel Reeves's tax raid on National Insurance Contributions, which would cost between £16billion and £25billion per year.

Mr Burnham would also plan to nationalise water companies, which Whitehall predicted would cost £100billion.

Meanwhile some of his plans have a slighter small bill, with his bid to restore bus fare caps coming to between £150million and £250million per year.

In the end, the costs would come to around £250billion, according to analysis by Guido Fawkes.

But his plans were said to be turned on their head after Sir Keir Starmer failed to notify the Makerfield MP that he would have to scrounge for an extra £4.7billion in his first Budget for the Defence Investment Plan.

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Andy Burnham to face YOUR questions amid row over dodging scrutiny - but will be able to pick and choose which ones

Andy Burnham is set to face an online grilling by the British public - but has stopped short of ensuring full scrutiny by picking and choosing the questions he will answer.

On Monday, the Labour leadership hopeful fell under fire for refusing to answer questions from furious lobby journalists following his first major speech as Makerfield MP.

After outlining his 10-year plan for No10, he sneaked out the backdoor of the People's History Museum in Manchester to dodge engaging with reporters.

And, later today, the former Mayor of Greater Manchester will be delivering much of the same in his "Ask Me Anything (AMA)" session, answering questions on social media website Reddit, where he and his team can select their preferred queries.

He will take questions directly from the 453,000 weekly readers of the r/UKPolitics sub-reddit, along with some of his 141,000 Instagram followers.

Many have accused Mr Burnham of potentially becoming Prime Minister without having faced the wrath of the media over policy issues which is normally delivered during general election campaigns.

It is feared the MP could be catapulted into No10 without a proper grilling and could trigger further calls for a snap national contest.

'Split time between No11 and the North,' Andy Burnham to tell new Chancellor

Andy Burnham is set to tell his Chancellor that they should split their time between No11 and the North as part of his "devolution revolution".

"Imagine if the Chancellor spent part of their working week based outside London. It would change their perspective," one source told the Telegraph.

Mr Burnham said he plans to spend at least one day in Manchester while Prime Minister.

Rishi Sunak, while Chancellor, drew up plans to send civil servants up to the north east in Darlington as part of the Tories' levelling-up agenda.

Andy Burnham 'really buoyed up' ahead of public grilling as Makerfield MP returns to Warrington

Andy Burnham has said he is feeling "really buoyed up" ahead of his public grilling as the Makerfield MP returned to his home in Warrington.

He said: "I'm feeling really buoyed up by the generous reaction to the speech I made earlier this week. It seems people do want a new direction in politics, a new way of doing things.

"More doing, less arguing. More power put into places like this."

He announced he would set out further details about his devolution plan "in the coming days".

Allies tease Boris Johnson could return to Westminster politics in bombshell comeback

Allies of the former Prime Minister have teased Boris Johnson could return to Westminster politics in a bombshell comeback.

One insider source claimed they could "see him campaigning properly at the next election".

Andy Burnham hints taxes will rise and dismisses 'crude' cuts to DWP benefits

Andy Burnham has dismissed the prospect of "crude" reductions to welfare spending while signalling that tax increases may be necessary to finance his policy agenda.

Earlier today, the likely incoming prime minister rejected what he termed "crude cuts" to Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefit payments.

When pressed on whether Labour's manifesto commitments and fiscal framework would remain intact, Mr Burnham confirmed they would, though he noted there remained "some room within that manifesto for movement on tax".

The former Greater Manchester mayor, who could enter Downing Street as early as July 20, insisted he maintained discipline on public finances despite accusations that his plans would necessitate higher taxation.

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Keir Starmer pressured to change law to fast-track deportation of Pakistani child rapist

Sir Keir Starmer has been facing mounting pressure to change the law to fast-track the deportation of a Pakistani child rapist.

Shabir Ahmed, who was ringleader of a Rochdale grooming gang, was convicted of 30 child rape offences.

Despite being sentenced to more than two decades behind bars, he was allowed to walk free yesterday.

Paul Waugh, the Labour MP for Rochdale, and Jim McMahon, the Labour MP for Oldham, have demanded Labour search "every available avenue" to deport the criminal.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister asked Shabana Mahmood to see "what can be done" to deport the child rapist.

Andy Burnham grilling to take place online at 5pm

Andy Burnham's online grilling - where he will be able to pick and choose which questions he answers - will take place later this afternoon.

He beckoned his followers to join him on Reddit at 5pm for an "Ask Me Anything" session.

'Running away!' Culture Secretary and Lord Hermer quit X with parting rant at 'misinformation'

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has quit X with a parting shot at so-called "misinformation" on the platform.

The Labour minister announced her decision in her final of more than 10,000 posts on Elon Musk's social media site, adding that her department would also be leaving.

Ms Nandy wrote: "A platform originally designed for free speech and expression now favours abuse and misinformation over meaningful debate.

"It isn't healthy for our democracy or our communities and I don’t want to support it."

DCMS is the second department to leave the platform in a matter of days, after Lord Hermer told the Attorney General's Office to leave X over "racism and misogyny".