Does Burnham's premiership give you positivity?

From a property finance perspective, optimism around Andy Burnham’s premiership relies entirely on whether he translates his regional devolution experience into national planning execution. His predecessor failed to unlock the rigid regulatory bottlenecks that have stifled mid-market housebuilding for years.

Burnham's background in regional infrastructure delivery gives the industry hope that he will decentralise the planning framework and empower local authorities to clear choked section 106 and building control backlogs. For specialist finance and SME developers, speed is everything; prolonged planning limbo completely freezes senior debt deployment and destroys project viability.

We are hoping for a premier who moves away from institutional grant-dependency and instead champions regional developer liquidity. If Burnham can use his metro-mayor experience to streamline local planning criteria, he will restore crucial lender confidence and unblock private capital markets.

Andy Burnham needs to be given a chance. So far he's announced some policies which give the man on the street some marginal gains in the pocket, but these do add up.

We need some realism on the housing target with some practical, logical support for SME housebuilders through real investment in planning departments and the supply chain.

A new scheme to replace Help To Buy is urgently needed. The UK Government has helped buyers for over 60 years, and since the Help To Buy scheme ended in 2023, we are in dire need of something to support aspiring home owners.

I'm cautiously positive, though I'd judge any PM on delivery rather than the honeymoon. A fresh start and an intent to get things moving is welcome, and Burnham's track record on devolution and regional delivery is a genuine plus. For our sector, the biggest lever is a functioning housing market and the confidence to transact, more than advice-specific policy. Get that right and it flows through to brokers, advisers and the whole chain. The issue I'd most like him to grip, and where his predecessor's approach fell short, is the demand side of housing. Too much of recent years treated it as purely a supply problem, when what's stalling the market is affordability and the monthly cost of a mortgage. A smarter, targeted successor to Help to Buy, aimed at the payment rather than the deposit, would do more for aspiring buyers, and the brokers serving them, than another housebuilding target. There's real potential here. Whether it turns into positivity depends on what he does with it.

As Friedrich Hayek put it, “if socialists understood economics, they wouldn't be socialists.” It doesn't bode well that the Shadow Chancellor has more business experience than the entire Labour cabinet. On Burnham's take on Thatcher, two points. In 1979 she inherited inflation at 13.4%, unemployment at 5.4%, income tax as high as 83%, an IMF bailout from 1976, and strikes crippling every public service. That was the Labour legacy she had to clear up. Within a decade Britain went from the sick man of Europe to an economic powerhouse. Second, Labour have since had three terms to "correct" whatever they think she got wrong and they haven't. Burnham's history is wildly selective, and his remedies have never worked anywhere on earth. I suspect the markets will sort him out soon enough and I hope for an early general election.

A change is as good as a rest, although it appears that the day after his first appearance, we are already back to business as usual, tax and spend, property taxes on the table, interest rates likely on the up, pressure on families and waiting yet again to see what the budget brings. The orchestra is the same, the music is the same, it’s just a different conductor.

The wealth / mansion tax looms large over my industry, as those in large homes wait to see if they will be covering yet more government spending and welcoming HMRC inspectors across the threshold for the privilege. There appears to be no appetite to stimulate the housing market, indeed the opposite is true.

Unfortunately it appears that the global economic headwinds won’t make allowances for new PM’s, so Mr Burnham is faced with the same fundamentals that he predecessor was, we can only wait and see if he can force out a different tune.

I welcome the change in tone, but financial advice does not need another speech about “access”. It needs someone willing to rip up the barriers that make regulated advice too expensive, too slow and too difficult to deliver.

Burnham has talked about reducing everyday costs and rebuilding economic confidence. For our industry, that should mean tackling the advice gap properly: simpler regulation, faster routes to direct authorisation, less duplication, and a system that stops treating every adviser as a potential criminal while scammers operate at industrial scale.

My hope is simple: make good advice easier to give and easier to access.

If Burnham wants a genuine legacy in personal finance, he should stop adding another layer of policy and start removing the friction already suffocating the profession.

A new Prime Minister has an opportunity to restore some confidence, but lasting positivity will depend on policy rather than the initial change in tone.

From a specialist property finance perspective, the priorities should be fiscal credibility, a more effective planning system and greater consistency for landlords, developers and small businesses. Constant changes to tax and regulation make long-term investment decisions harder and can ultimately restrict housing supply.

Burnham has spoken about reducing mortgage costs, but government cannot control those costs through rhetoric. With gilt yields already elevated, financial markets will be watching whether spending commitments are properly funded. A loss of confidence could increase longer-term borrowing and refinancing costs even if the Bank of England reduces its base rate.

On financial advice, I would hope for stable regulation that protects consumers while preserving access to appropriate finance and professional guidance. The r

So far, Burnham has framed his plans as problem-solving over point scoring. Far too often, PMs make decisions based on what will secure future elections instead of what’s genuinely best for the economy, so if Burnham sticks to his word, it could be a refreshing change.

I hope that ISAs aren’t made more complicated than they already are, especially with the upcoming changes to allowances and charges. I hate that the rules are already difficult to follow for everyday people, and making them more inaccessible will only be a detriment to our economy.

Burnham also needs to avoid moving the goalposts in numerous areas, including pensions, but also Inheritance Tax, with impending changes sure to lead to some confusion next April. Even though these changes were set in place by the previous PM and chancellor, further changes would only see people lose confidence in both the government and their financial future; keeping these consistent for a while will help many feel more secure.

Andy Burnham has said precisely nothing about financial advice, and I doubt it is high on his radar. What our industry needs from him isn't enthusiasm, but certainty and stability: an end to the annual Budget guessing game over tax free cash, ISAs and pension relief that encourages people to make knee jerk decisions they might later regret. He could fix that today.

Beyond that, what matters most to our clients' portfolios is the gilt market, and his first appearance in the Commons coincided with borrowing costs at their highest since 2008. Every mayor gets to talk about hope; prime ministers have to balance it with hard fiscal reality. If he can control borrowing and promote growth without resorting to further taxation, that would be a genuine improvement on his predecessor. But we're a long way from knowing whether he can deliver either.

You cannot fix an affordability crisis with mortgage tinkering - you fix it with homes. Burnham is the first Prime Minister in decades with a genuine housing delivery record, from council house targets to fining bad landlords in Greater Manchester, so the enthusiasm is understandable and, cautiously, I share it. First time buyers I see every week are not short of mortgage options, with sub 5% deposits and enhanced income multiples already out there: they are short of homes they can afford to buy. If he gets spades in the ground faster than his predecessor, brokers will have plenty to lend against. I would also love to see a positive change to stamp duty. To cost of acquiring a home is already stretching homebuyers - a reduction in this cost would only mean positive things for the housing market.