Andy Burnham could be about to call a general election and there's one huge reason why

Andy Burnham is widely anticipated to become the next Prime Minister following Sir Keir Starmer's resignation last week. The Labour Party MP for Makerfield could become PM by mid-July if nobody challenges him for the role of Labour leader.

As Burnham positions himself for the top job, his policy agenda is already generating significant debate. He has committed to setting up a Number Ten in Manchester to drive devolution across the country, a move designed to redistribute power away from London. During a recent visit to The Black Country Skills Shop, Labour's Minister for Skills Baroness Smith defended these plans, stating: "The idea that not everything happens in London, which is what Andy has been talking about, is actually good for places like the West Midlands."

Stourbridge MP Cat Eccles endorsed Burnham's vision, saying: "Andy's already done a fantastic job in the decade he was mayor in Manchester and that's a blueprint for the rest of the country."

However, the Conservative Party has dismissed his ambitions as outdated. Party leader Kemi Badenoch argued that Burnham's devolution agenda is "stripped of private enterprise and ownership" and "loaded with Labour's instincts of more public control, more regulation and more taxes."

Beyond devolution, Burnham's team is proposing significant tax reforms that could prove controversial. According to reports, they plan to abolish the capital gains tax uplift on death, potentially subjecting middle-class families to both inheritance tax and capital gains tax on the same property. Tax experts have warned this constitutes a "double death tax," with one higher-rate taxpayer potentially being £23,280 worse off under the proposals.

These ambitious policy initiatives, combined with what appears to be an unopposed path to the leadership, suggest Burnham's premiership will bring substantial changes to taxation and the distribution of political power across Britain's regions.