If you are aspirational, own a property, have saved prudently into a pension and hope to leave a little to your children after you've gone… be afraid.

If you also happen to live in the South of England, be very afraid. Andy Burnham has you in his sights.

While we have no detail of which taxes the self-styled King of the North will dream up or increase to fund his 'new economic model', he has floated a number of possibilities – all of them worrying.

In a showcase BBC interview, he strongly hinted that southern homeowners should pay more in council tax than the rest of the country because they live in more expensive properties.

What he failed to mention is that they also have bigger mortgages and pay more income tax. And if they commute into the capital, they must pay either eye-watering public transport costs or, if they drive, punitive ULEZ, congestion zone and parking charges.

London and the South East already contribute 45 per cent of the UK's total income tax bill, with much of that flowing to less affluent regions. (Incidentally, the North West, which includes Manchester and Liverpool, contributes under 8 per cent.)

He should be proud that the South is working so hard for Britain. Instead, he's so fixated on the politics of envy that he risks throttling the golden goose.

He might also consider the possibility that many Tory councils charge lower council tax because they are more careful with their spending than Labour and employ fewer staff in spurious diversity, outreach and public relations roles.

In addition, though southern middle-class householders may live in relatively valuable properties, they are not all cash rich. Higher taxes could well force some out of their homes. Is that Mr Burnham's idea of fairness? Then there is the new PM's plan to provide a social care service free at the point of need. A laudable notion but, again, where's the money coming from?

He has let it be known he favours a 'national care levy' on all estates – otherwise known as a death tax. A figure of 10 per cent has been mooted, but is that to replace existing inheritance tax, or in addition to it?

Rachel Reeves has already fleeced private pensioners like a demented sheep shearer. Under pre-existing rules, any money left in a pension fund after death can be left to children or grandchildren inheritance tax-free.

But from April, if you are over 75 when you die, any remaining pension will be subject first to IHT at 40 per cent, then income tax when it is drawn down.

A further 10 per cent levy would mean it had been taxed three times. IHT is one of the most hated of all taxes. This would make it the most iniquitous.

It's true of course that these are merely spectres of things foretold. We don't know exactly what Mr Burnham will do because he became Prime Minister in a party coup rather than after an election.

He didn't even stand as an MP in 2024, so although he pays lip service to honouring Labour's manifesto, it's clear he has massive tax-raising plans. If he had any respect for democracy, he would put those plans to the people in a general election. But he hasn't, and he won't.

He may fancy himself as the King of the North but, after just a week in Downing Street, he's looking more like a robber baron.