Our economics editor Heather Stewart reports:

I’m in a book-lined conference room in Westminster where Conservative shadow chancellor Mel Stride is delivering a speech about fiscal policy, hosted by the Thatcherite Centre for Policy Studies.

Stride has claimed that moves in gilt yields in recent days mean that Andy Burnham is “already costing us all money before the byelection writ has even been served” – £300 per family, he claims, if the move last week when Josh Simons announced that he was resigning his seat, is sustained.

(Gilt yields have eased today for a second day, and the 10-year yield is back to where it was before last Friday’s jump...)

Even if Keir Starmer remains in charge, Stride says, the tumultuous political backdrop means he is, “unable to take tough decisions and increasingly compelled to lurch to the left.”

Burnham is the leftwing mayor of Greater Manchester and is gearing up to fight a byelection in Markerfield, so he can challenge Starmer for the leadership of the Labour party.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2026/may/19/uk-wage-growth-unemployment-rate-markets-business-live-news