Andy Burnham chaired his first Cabinet meeting on Tuesday and told his appointed ministers to examine “all possible ways” to help families struggling with high costs.
In a challenge to his top team one their applause had died down, the new Prime Minister said their task was to “take that little bit of pressure off people’s shoulders” and show them help was coming so they could have some hope things were improving.
He told the meeting: “That’s the mission that we’ve got to set ourselves together” and asked his colleagues to look into what their department could do to ease cost-of-living pressures, “big and small,” saying: “We need to be a cost-of-living Government, getting that cost of living down, looking at all possible ways of doing that.”
Burnham started today by making good on his promise for “breathing space” for struggling households, a key plinth of his economic plans unveiled in his maiden speech outside No 10 on Monday. The move will see VAT removed from domestic electricity bills from October 1.
He said: “Westminster has not been working for people for too long, with families struggling with the cost of living. That needs to change. I said I wanted to give people breathing space, and that’s what I’m announcing on my second day as Prime Minister. We’re taking immediate action to cut taxes on energy bills, put more money in people’s pockets and bring back hope.”