Andy Burnham orders cost-of-living push, UK plans to remove VAT from household electricity and fund it by cancelling digital ID scheme, early agenda pairs bill relief with scrapped state IT build

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independent.co.uk

Andy Burnham says his will be a ‘cost-of-living government’ in first cabinet meeting as PM – UK politics live theguardian.com

Andy Burnham told his first cabinet meeting on Monday that his government must be a “cost-of-living government”, as Downing Street prepared a first policy move: removing VAT from household electricity bills from 1 October. According to The Independent, the chancellor said the VAT cut would be funded by cancelling the previous government’s digital ID programme, which Burnham has already moved to scrap.

The early combination of a tax cut and a cancelled tech project signals how the new prime minister intends to reframe the state’s role: less as a builder of new citizen-facing systems and more as a manager of household bills. The Guardian’s live reporting notes that Burnham’s remarks so far have been broad, with ministers asked to identify “big and small” ways to ease costs. The Independent adds the first concrete trade-off: a foregone identity scheme used as the funding line for a consumer-facing tax change.

That swap also exposes a familiar constraint. Cutting VAT on electricity reduces revenue automatically and immediately; cancelling a programme saves money only if contracts can be unwound and planned spending never materialises. Critics inside Labour are already asking for the arithmetic. Former cabinet minister Darren Jones, cited by The Independent, called for clarity on how the VAT removal will be financed at the next budget, pointing out that the digital ID project was described as unfunded in the first place.

Immigration numbers are being folded into the same “cost-of-living” pitch. Home Office data cited by The Independent shows small-boat arrivals by 10 July were lower than the same point last year, with nine consecutive days of no arrivals reported from 11 to 19 July. EU border officials, the paper reports, attribute a wider drop in irregular crossings partly to partnerships in North Africa that stop onward journeys—arrangements that experts warn carry a “deadly cost”, with the International Organization for Migration counting nearly 1,300 Mediterranean deaths so far this year.

Burnham also used the first cabinet meeting to promise a reset in how ministers deal with civil servants, discussing “standards” and “one team” working with the cabinet secretary, according to The Independent. At the same time, Nigel Farage is demanding a general election after Keir Starmer’s departure, calling Burnham’s ascent a “coup” and arguing the new prime minister lacks a mandate.

The government says VAT will come off electricity bills on 1 October. The digital ID scheme it is using as the offset is already being described, by its own critics, as a project without a clear budget.