On Monday, Britain’s new prime minister, Andy Burnham, promised to “bring life’s essentials back under stronger public control to make them affordable again.” He has honored his pledge to help with the cost of living by restoring the £2 cap on bus fares and by reducing VAT on household electricity bills. Well, every little bit helps.
But anyone who thinks that bus usage in the UK, which has fallen significantly since the coronavirus pandemic, will be revived by a £2 bus fare is not living in the real world. Nor will a £40 reduction in the average Briton’s £1,600 annual heating bill exactly lead to national rejoicing. Domestic energy bills are expected to go up again in the autumn, so this cut will scarcely be noticed by the public at large.
Nevertheless, disgruntled Starmer-era ministers who have been rudely pushed out of the door by Burnham (so much for ending factionalism) have certainly noticed. One of them, Darren Jones, pointed out that this reduction in VAT on fuel is unfunded. Or rather, it is fantasy-funded by Burnham scrapping Keir Starmer’s much-criticized digital ID scheme, which was itself supposed to be paid for by unspecified savings elsewhere in the spending budget. It’s all smoke and mirrors.
The new prime minister has, however, shown more dynamism and charisma in the past few days than his predecessor ever did and some are even comparing Burnham to Zohran Mamdani, the left-wing New York mayor. Mamdani has also been celebrated as a great communicator and a wizard of new media, and has made many bold promises that have proved to be rather modest in practice. Burnham’s nugatory reductions in the cost of living are supposed to be giving voters what he calls “breathing space” and a taste of what they can expect in future. In other words, they are mostly about “vibes.”
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