Andy Burnham is embarking on a nationwide listening tour as he attempts to persuade voters that the Government is serious about tackling cost of living pressures.
The Prime Minister is set to pledge “everyday fixes” for rising bills as he promises to “pull every single lever we can to provide people with some room to breathe on the cost of living”.
In addition to earlier moves to cut VAT on household energy bills and impose a £2 cap on bus fares, Burnham on Monday will accelerate plans to tackle so-called “subscription traps”.
The policy, which will force subscription providers to make it easier to cancel subscriptions and provide more information about costs up front rather than quietly auto-renewing them at a higher price, was announced in April and had been set to come into force next spring. This will now take effect in January.
The Prime Minister will also launch a consultation on adding deceptive discount offers to the Competition and Markets Authority’s list of banned practices.
This would make it easier for the watchdog to punish firms that engage in practices such as artificially inflating prices and then immediately offering a “discount” to make a product look much better value than it is.
Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride claimed Burnham’s tour announcements demonstrated the Prime Minister had “already run out of ideas”.
“The cost of living didn’t become a problem last week, so you have to ask why it has taken Labour so long to enact legislation passed by the previous government,” he said.
“Labour’s tax hikes have sent costs soaring for hardworking families and destroyed jobs. Consultations and reheated measures won’t make up for that.”
Lib Dem Treasury spokeswoman Daisy Cooper said: “We Liberal Democrats have long called for stronger consumer protections and we want to see the Government go further.
“If the new PM is serious about this, he should introduce strengthened protections against rogue traders, make energy bills fairer by giving everyone a discount on their essential usage, and clamp down on the big supermarkets’ unfair shrinkflation tactics.
“With a new PM in place, people up and down the country will expect to see big changes and soon.”
That sentiment may well become a familiar one for Burnham over the coming weeks, with polling repeatedly finding most voters have limited patience and want quick, impactful reform.
Since coming into power, the Prime Minister has made grand promises to fix social care and improve housing and education, but much of the detail behind those plans remains vague.
While most households have welcomed the “breathing space” Burnham has so far delivered with VAT cuts and caps on bus fares, the measures are unlikely to remain in place permanently or fundamentally alter the economic reality which is pressurising household budgets.
Big picture reforms to social care and housing remain light on detail, and the challenge of funding changes without breaking the Government’s fiscal rules looms large over future spending decisions.
Burnham’s listening tour will likely provide some valuable political capital but voters’ patience will again wear thin unless the Government can quickly provide credible plans to grow the economy and improve services in a timely and meaningful way.