Budget 2026: Burnham's budget praised as 'dullest in a long time' by Lord O Neill - as he lauds PM for not 'clobbering business'

Lord Jim O’Neill has described Andy Burnham's budget as one of the "dullest in a long time" - but praised the PM for not "clobbering business". The former Goldman Sachs economist, who advised Andy Burnham during his election campaign, said he had been left "surprised and impressed" by the measures unveiled by Chancellor John Healey on Wednesday. "I mean, I think it's one of, in some ways, one of the dullest budgets for a long time," he told Tonight with Andrew Marr.

"But I think it's been quite wise in view of all the issues, some of them self-imposed constraints like the manifesto, not wanting to clobber business like you and I have talked about before." "I'm quite impressed by that. Read more: Britain is sailing through an economic storm, but at least with Healey's Budget we haven't capsized, writes Andrew Marr Read more: 'I can't be bothered anymore...': Our callers react to Burnham's budget But he wouldn't be drawn by Marr on whether he had played a role in shaping the Budget.

Asked if he had shared a brief word with Burnham in advance of Wednesday's announcement, he said: “Well, you know, I'm pleased," he said. I'm pleased it was presented the way that it was.” Healey told MPs he will raise the threshold for small business rate relief for retail hospitality and leisure businesses to £18,000, and freeze rates for all other firms in these sectors in real terms. He said it would mean that 70,000 businesses would be taken out of paying rates altogether, “meaning half of our shops, restaurants and gyms will now pay no business rates at all”.

Lord O'Neill continued that the Treasury appeared to "get entrepreneurs". "if you look at some of the smaller things like the Founders' Relief, there's a sign of a little bit of tiny detail where they actually get particularly the genuinely entrepreneurial stuff. "I think there was a bit more thrown in about entrepreneurs' loss relief as well. And that suggests to me that they're alert and aware of the importance of these things.” The cross-bench peer also suggested forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibilit y (OBR) were "far too cautious" after it downgraded its growth prediction for next year to 1%.

The forecast marks a downgrade from the OBR's previous estimate of 1.6%. “It's one of the big surprises to me of the budget," Lord O'Neill said. "We've had many years where the OBR has been too optimistic. Here, it looks to me like they're being far too cautious," he added.