Peter Kyle urges Burnham government to move faster on growth
Peter Kyle said Andy Burnham's government is not focused enough on economic growth and must act with "more urgency".
He gave the warning in an interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, published on 26 September, as Labour prepared to meet in Liverpool for its annual conference. BBC
Kyle spoke as a backbencher, an MP with no government job. He was sacked in Burnham's reshuffle when Burnham took office, two months before the interview. He had served as science secretary and then business secretary under Keir Starmer, and now sits as MP for Hove and Portslade.
Burnham was due to address conference on Tuesday, his first as prime minister. Chancellor John Healey was due to deliver his first Budget, which sets tax and spending, on 28 October.
Kyle made two proposals. He urged honest talks with unions about the timing of workers' rights, to help growth in the short term. He also called for a "tax growth test" to measure what each tax does to the economy.
The Employment Rights Act was passed in December 2025, but some changes will not start until next year. The OECD, which forecasts for advanced economies, said the UK is expected to grow by 1%, slightly down from 1.1%.
At Labour Party Conference 2025, when Kyle was Business Secretary, he said the heart of his job was growing the economy to fund public services. He nominated Burnham in the 2026 Labour leadership contest. In June, he said Burnham "could" have the talent to lead the party. BBC
In July, Kyle said the South has "very different needs" to the North in backing new firms. BBC In May, while still Business Secretary, he said Labour had "just had the rug pulled out from under us" by the election results.
Burnham has put the cost of living at the centre of his early premiership. He pledged to reshape politics and ease the cost of living crisis. In October he pledged to scrap VAT on household electricity bills, saving a typical household about £45 a year. He has said he was "not tempted" to call an early election.
The broader context here is about timing and political cover. Kyle wants ministers to weigh employment protections and tax choices against near-term growth, and to say so to unions and voters before the Budget. For a new No 10 preparing a conference speech and a fiscal event within a month, that is an uncomfortable message from a former business secretary. It gives Burnham and Healey a backbench voice to cite if they slow implementation or frame tax around growth, or a critic to answer if they do not.
