Burnham’s Big Economic Choices

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Episode details

News,·03 Sep 2026,·40 mins

Available for over a year

Today, we discuss the economic challenges Andy Burnham is facing ahead of his first budget. The economic backdrop has left the prime minister and his Chancellor John Healey with big decisions to make about defence spending, as pressure increases on the government to raise it. Adam Fleming is joined by economics editor Faisal Islam and Helen Miller, director at the IFS to discuss the options for the government. Plus, the BBC’s technology and AI editor Zoe Kleinman is the first British journalist to hail a self-driving Uber in London. She’s in the studio to debrief on what the journey was like, and how quickly the technology is evolving. You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord Get in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480. New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter was Adam Fleming. It was made by Miranda Slade with Shiler Mahmoudi and Nik Sindle. The social producers were Joe Wilkinson and Beth Pritchard. The technical producer was Hannah Montgomery. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.