{"id":703109,"date":"2026-07-21T09:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T09:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/703109\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T09:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T09:26:10","slug":"u-k-s-burnham-targets-lower-energy-bills-in-first-move-as-pm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/703109\/","title":{"rendered":"U.K.\u2019s Burnham targets lower energy bills in first move as PM"},"content":{"rendered":"

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham<\/a> said on Tuesday he would cut taxes on electricity bills in his first attempt to ease a lengthy cost-of-living crisis<\/a> that has angered the public and helped stoke political instability.<\/p>\n

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In his second day in his new role, Burnham said his government would remove the value-added tax from domestic electricity bills from October 1, cutting around \u00a345 from the average annual bill of around \u00a31,862 that households pay.<\/p>\n

With bond investors watching closely for how any fiscal support would be paid for, he said the move would be funded by savings from the cancellation of a $2.4 billion digital ID program, which he announced on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re taking immediate action to cut taxes on energy bills, put more money in people\u2019s pockets and bring back hope,\u201d he said in a statement, having pledged to give people more \u201cbreathing space\u201d in their lives.<\/p>\n

The energy announcement is designed to show that Burnham will move quickly to improve living standards after years of stagnation.<\/p>\n

But in the first sign his call for unity in the governing Labour Party might fall flat, an ally of former prime minister Keir Starmer, Darren Jones, said the digital ID scheme was unfunded, questioning whether the new leader had the money to cover his policy move on energy bills.<\/p>\n

\"LabourDemonstrators protest against plans to introduce a Digital ID, in Liverpool, England in Sept. 2025.Jeff J Mitchell \/ Getty Images file<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government will have to set out how it will pay for its new policies at the budget,\u201d he said on X.<\/p>\n

Energy bills have been one of the main drivers of Britain\u2019s cost-of-living crisis after the wholesale gas price, which heavily influences British electricity prices, surged after Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n

The Conservative government at the time spent billions of pounds to shield households through an energy price guarantee. But while prices eased from mid-2023, they remain up to 60% higher than before the energy crisis. They have also increased in recent months due to the Iran war.<\/p>\n

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition welcomed the move as a sign of positive intent but added: \u201cIt does not address the scale of what households are facing, with millions still left paying an unaffordable share of their income on energy and record levels of energy debt built up over successive winters of high bills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burnham has vowed to kick off a program he believes can turn Britain around, hoping a bolder agenda can win back voters to the governing Labour Party and fight a challenge from the populist Reform UK, led by Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage.<\/p>\n

There is a lot at stake.<\/p>\n

Dubbed the \u201cKing of the North\u201d for his dogged defense of the northwestern English area of Greater Manchester when mayor, Burnham is the most popular leader of Britain\u2019s main political parties and has overwhelming support in Labour.<\/p>\n

But Britain\u2019s revolving door of prime ministers over the past decade has underlined how quickly parties can move against leaders who are not seen as delivering for voters, and Burnham will have to move quickly to stamp his authority on the government.<\/p>\n

He wants to hit the ground running.<\/p>\n

In his first speech as prime minister on Monday, Burnham said his first ambition was to end rough sleeping in Britain, but also that he wanted people to feel the change in government in their pockets quickly.<\/p>\n

He is also expected to look at possible caps to bus fares \u2014 something he did in Manchester \u2014 and other measures, to back up his assertion that \u201cI will put the care of people at the heart of everything I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt won\u2019t solve everything, it won\u2019t take all of the pressure off,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cBut it just shows the direction of travel and … about helping them out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Markets will be listening keenly to how Burnham and his unexpected pick for finance minister, the former defense secretary John Healey, plan to finance any further support, after borrowing costs rose on Monday, pushing 30-year gilt yields to a two-month high.<\/p>\n

Some investors were unsettled by Burnham\u2018s remarks that he planned to use \u201cany flexibility\u201d within existing fiscal rules.<\/p>\n

Showing the limited room for maneuver, the International Monetary Fund had praised the previous government for not introducing broad, untargeted energy subsidies in response to the Iran conflict, while the OECD has urged Britain to reduce \u2014 rather than expand \u2014 VAT exemptions to bolster tax revenue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Tuesday he would cut taxes on electricity bills in his first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-703109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}