Burnham not doing enough to boost growth

Andy Burnham's government is not doing enough to boost economic growth, according to Labour's business secretary Peter Kyle.

Peter Kyle served as business secretary during Sir Keir Starmer's premiership and has now returned to the backbenches as the MP for Hove and Portslade.

Kyle called for more urgency on the economy in an interview with the BBC, saying that if the destination means prosperity, it means freedom for people to do new things, and it means security for people and families.

He has previously said his time as Greater Manchester mayor had given him 'a clear theory of growth' stressing his belief in the importance of devolving powers to local areas.

Giving regions and nations more control would, he has argued, create the conditions for 'good growth in every postcode'.

Kyle also suggested introducing a 'tax growth test' which would measure the impact of each tax on the economy and asking government experts to review 'obstacles' to growth.

Asked if there was enough focus on growth in the government, Kyle replied: 'I don't think there is and that isn't a criticism - it is pointing to the potential that we have as a country and as a government.

'I think we need to up our ambition, I think that we need to act with more urgency when it comes to economic growth. '

Chancellor John Healey is due to give his first Budget on 28 October, but faces rising debt costs and warnings of slower economic growth.

According to the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the UK economy is expected to grow by 1%, slightly less than the 1. 1% previously forecast.

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Earlier this week, Starmer ally Darren Jones told the New Statesman that Sir Keir should have been given more time in office and criticised 'this modern approach of getting queasy and then just changing [leader] too rapidly'.

'In the past it was normal for governments to be unpopular midterm because you've got to take difficult structural long-term decisions. '

The former chief secretary to the prime minister added: 'Irrespective of what's happened and how, we want it to be successful, and we have a collective responsibility to help make that the case.

'We, as backbenchers in the PLP [Parliamentary Labour