Andy Burnham said he was not a fan of Rachel Reeves’s rise in employer national insurance contributions, worth £25bn a year, while also floating—and then rescinding—help for Waspi women and suggesting a halving of VAT for pubs. He simultaneously pledged to stick by Reeves’s budget rules and Labour’s manifesto promises not to raise income tax or workers’ NICs, and to keep the pensions triple lock. UK government bond yields rose only modestly on Friday after Burnham’s Makerfield byelection win, partly because that outcome was priced in, he had promised fiscal-rule adherence, and better inflation numbers earlier in the week eased market nerves over the Iran war. The Bank of England had already released worse-than-expected public borrowing figures, Reeves had pencilled in tight spending plans for the rear of the parliament, and only £13bn of the £18bn defence investment plan had been funded by cutting other capital budgets. Options for new revenue include further raising capital gains tax, a bank tax, the 2028 mansion tax on high-value homes, or a wealth tax, while scrapping the triple lock would save billions.