Burnham Lines Up a Cost-of-Living Package to Cut Energy Bills
Andy Burnham is preparing a cost-of-living package as one of his first acts as Prime Minister, reportedly including making heat pumps cheaper than gas boilers and cutting VAT on domestic energy. Aides say he intends a “dynamic start”, with a Downing Street speech promising households “breathing space” and growth “in every postcode”.
The package is central to Mr Burnham’s argument that a change of leader can mean a change of priorities without a general election. Cutting VAT on domestic energy, currently five per cent, and shifting incentives towards heat pumps would carry a fiscal cost at a time of tight public finances and a Reform challenge on living standards. It sits alongside his devolution and public-ownership themes. Watch Monday’s first speech for whether concrete numbers, and the money to pay for them, accompany the promises, or whether the Opposition’s charge that it is “airy-fairy” sticks.