Burnham's First Two Weeks: Budget Set, Jury Trials Saved, and Greater Manchester Stays Red

Chancellor John Healey has locked in 28 October for the first Budget under Prime Minister Andy Burnham, promising to "spread money and power" out of Westminster. The date gives the new government just 12 weeks to reconcile a blitz of unfunded spending pledges — VAT cuts on energy, bus fare caps, business rates relief for pubs — with fiscal rules that forbid increases to income tax, national insurance, or VAT....