Andy Burnham warned against raising taxes ‘for the sake of clobbering people’ by suspended Labour rebel

Andy Burnham has been cautioned against raising taxes “for the sake of it” by former Labour MP Karl Turner.

The Independent parliamentarian, who was excluded by the party over his opposition to ending jury trials, warned of the knock-on effects on Britons struggling with the soaring cost of living.

“We've got to be careful across the board. Let's not do stuff for the sake of doing stuff... I think it's ludicrous to just clobber people for the sake of clobbering them,” Mr Turner said.

Mr Burnham, expected to succeed Sir Kier Starmer as Prime Minister, is understood to be considering reforms, including aligning Capital Gains Tax with income tax and lowering the threshold for a “mansion tax”.

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“I think there's room for caution,” the independent MP continued.

“I think we already collect something like £1.2trillion in taxes... and I think we have to be a bit cautious because people, frankly, are incredibly concerned about the cost of living.

“When taxes go up, I think there's a knock-on effect down the line. Somebody's got to pay for it.”

Mr Turner added that while he had not been consulted on Burnham's plans, he was sceptical of introducing tax rises without a clear purpose.

He compared such rashness to Labour’s decision to impose VAT on private school fees, branding the policy “a gimmicky thing”.

“I thought it was just a gimmicky thing, which was punishing people who've got the temerity to send their kids to a private school,” he said.

“Not all kids who go to private schools are posh kids from silver spoon backgrounds.

“Some of these schools are specialist schools. I thought it was a bad decision.”

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Nevertheless, the Kingston upon Hull East MP added that he agreed with “some” of Mr Burnham’s mooted proposals on capital gains tax.

The independent MP indicated he could support the expected next Prime Minister's proposed “Amazon tax” on large distribution warehouses if the money was reinvested in town centres.

“If he's going to use the money from that to put into pubs and high street shops, then fine.

“But again, we've got to be cautious because there's always someone who's going to be paying the bill for that.”

Mr Turner was not the only Labour figure to warn Mr Burnham over tax hikes, with former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair also raising concerns.

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change advised that nations cannot “tax our way to prosperity”.

It also branded the proposed tax increases as “bad politics”.

Mr Burnham served in Sir Tony's Cabinet from 2001 until 2007, first as a Whip and later as Health Minister.

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