Addressing the nation as its new prime minister on Monday, Andy Burnham pledged his first action would be to give people “breathing space” with the cost of living. But a growing list of expensive promises means he too could struggle to pay the bills.

Andy Burnham pledged a “new economic model” for the UK as he sought to reassure Britons his ascension as their seventh prime minister in little over a decade would bring an end to the country’s political instability.