Prime Minister Andy Burnham acknowledged on BBC's Wake Up to Money that his cost-of-living measures so far — including removing VAT from domestic electricity bills and ending subscription traps — do not meaningfully ease pressure on households, while promising an unspecified 'accumulation of smaller things.' He floated more public control over energy, water and housing, and remodeling rail fares following the return of operators to public ownership, but offered no mechanism for any of it.
On water, he conceded reversing 1980s privatization would not be easy while insisting he's 'looking at what can be done.' The announcement comes alongside a separate government scheme giving households near new electricity pylons and substations a £250 annual bill discount for a decade.
Burnham said he's asked Chancellor John Healey to make cost-of-living relief his 'main focus' in the October 28 Budget, even as Healey has pledged 'strong fiscal discipline' that will cap spending, and Labour's manifesto rules out raising income tax, VAT or National Insurance for working people. Burnham also acknowledged the National Insurance hike has piled pressure on businesses, alongside rising minimum wages from previous budgets, while declining to commit to specific business rate relief beyond a 20% cut already announced for pubs and music venues.
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