Burnham proposes land value tax as progressive voters sour on him

Speaking to Andrew Marr, Andy Burnham has suggested he wants to introduce wealth taxes in the UK:

I'm no fan of Andy, but a land value tax is fucking based. https://t.co/AxK7i70YSt

— Curtis Daly (@CurtisDaly_) June 20, 2026

If he delivers on this, it would be a more progressive direction for Labour than what we got under Keir Starmer. And there’s reason for Andy Burnham to talk up such policies, because the signs are that progressive voters are already losing patience with him.

Andy Burnham — Wealth taxes

Speaking to Marr, Burnham said:

I think in this country we overtax labor – overtax people’s work – and we undertax wealth.

He added:

And I think that issue has grown, and grown, and grown as a problem the more we’ve seen the emergence of extreme wealth. And… we can see it all around us.

Take an example. Here’s something I would like to see personally. A land value tax.

He further explained

it’s a very productive form of taxation because you make sure that land is used for good, productive purposes. And if people are sitting on it and hoarding it, they get taxed, and that money can come back and be redistributed. So I think those ideas have got to be in the mix.

Speaking on all this, Tax Justice UK have said:

Burnham has also talked openly about scrapping council tax, and stamp duty, two of the most regressive, outdated taxes we have. We fully back this move, and as we discussed recently in a deepdive article, we believe a Proportional Property Tax (PPT) paid by property owners instead of tenants, would be the best way to replace this system. Burnham prefers a Land Value Tax (LVT), which would also resolve the outrageous current council tax situation whereby a Blackpool family home often faces a higher tax bill than a billionaire-owned mansion in Mayfair.

We prefer PPT because it delivers similar fairness with less administrative burden and complexity. But these are ultimately fairly technical policy issues. Burnham is on the right track here, showing a bit of political courage (which has been sorely missing in Westminster for decades) and an instinct to protect public services, bring the tax system up to date, and ensure the richest pay their share. But what about the other big ticket reforms we need?

Far enough?

During the Makerfield by-election, we observed two broad points about Burnham:

• Burnham was failing to give us a full picture of how he would govern the country.
• The picture we did get looked horrible.

As we reported:

• Burnham ‘to support’ Mahmood’s racist immigration changes.
• Andy Burnham’s role with Iain Duncan Smith’s think tank just shows he’s more of the same.
• Shapeshifting Burnham ditches trans rights to panic-grab Reform votes.
• Burnham slammed for saying he won’t renationalise Thames Water.
• Burnham calls for ‘safe routes’ then agrees with Farage in muddled interview.
• Green candidate calls out genocide as Burnham sits on fence.

Given this, it’s no wonder that Andy Burnham has turned off current Green voters — many of whom will have been Labour voters a few years ago:

Quite interesting that the % of Green voters saying Burnham is "unacceptable" has risen from 12% to 23% in the past month (+11pts).

His numerous u-turns and embrace of Labour's unpopular policies has hurt him with the liberal-progressive voters he was supposed to win over. https://t.co/mZlQqSB3rA pic.twitter.com/vwuhpxXvJa

— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️‍⚧️ (@LeftieStats) June 20, 2026

Under Starmer, Labour lost four times as many voters to the Greens than to Reform. And if Andy wants to turn his ‘Burnham bounce’ into a ‘Burnham second term’, he’s going to have to actually deliver on policies like wealth taxes.

If he doesn’t, we all know what will happen:

Taxi for Keir Starmer! His own cabinet ministers are circling like vultures, as the PM with the worst satisfaction rates faces a revolthttps://t.co/2JKsB80fja

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) June 19, 2026

Featured image via the Canary