Burnham asks his government to focus on "reducing the cost of living" for Britons

LondonAndy Burnham wanted to make things clear from the outset. In the first meeting of his government, this Tuesday at Downing Street, the new prime minister has asked his ministers to focus on seeking "all possible avenues" to help families suffering from the high cost of living. Six hours earlier, the government's information and propaganda machine had already set the course for the new executive and, above all, how it wants its first actions to be perceived, after announcing a total suspension of VAT for domestic electricity from October 1, which until now was 5%. Burnham accompanied the announcement with a message on social media saying: "I said I wanted to relieve the pressure families are suffering, and that's what I'm announcing on my second day as prime minister".

The measure, however, is little more than symbolic, because in real terms it is minimal. It will only mean an annual saving of about 50 pounds (less than 60 euros) for each household, if a standard consumption of about 1,600 pounds (1,870 euros) is taken as a reference. The saving will be halved if it is taken into account that on the same day it comes into force, energy prices will also be updated, which are expected to rise by 3.1%. And they will possibly rise again on January 1, according to all experts.

Addressing his ministers, in front of television cameras, which recorded the first minutes of the first session of his executive, Andy Burnham told them: "What can we do to reduce the pressure people are under? What can we do to make them feel that help is near, so that they regain a little hope that things can start to improve? That is the mission we must set ourselves together. We must be a government focused on reducing the cost of living, on bringing it down, exploring all possible avenues to achieve it."

According to Downing Street, the VAT cut will be financed by the cancellation of a program that, over three years, was intended to fund the implementation of a digital identity card, budgeted at 1.8 billion pounds. But the announcement has already received its first cold shower. Minutes after the Prime Minister's office announced it, Darren Jones, former government secretary to Keir Starmer, and one of his most trusted men, tweeted that, despite the good news, "the digital identity program had no allocated funding. The government will have to explain how it will pay for its new policies in the budgets".

Jones has thus struck at the lifeline not only of a first economic measure, however symbolic, but also of the Prime Minister's expressed desire to unite all sectors of the party under his leadership and put an end to the fratricidal wars between the different factions of Labour.

Burnham has promised new announcements in the same vein as the VAT cut on electricity in the coming days. While they are not yet concrete, the first reactions from British public opinion are encouraging, much better than with Keir Starmer. The consultancy Deltapoll has published a new poll based on the responses of 2,027 British adults, who were asked about their voting intention between July 17 and 20, the days when Burnham was crowned Labour leader and at the time of entering Downing Street as Prime Minister. The poll shows that Labour is up eight points compared to a previous survey conducted between June 12 and 15, and is tied with Nigel Farage's Reform Party, both with 28% support.