On Tuesday, Andy Burnham made his first speech as Prime Minister at the PMQ’s, addressing his parliament and outlining his plan of action for a new political and economic model for the UK. Many of his promises are not firm commitments, so what can we expect from this new government, and when can we expect any of this change? Here’s what we know.

VAT has been scrapped from household electricity bills to help ease the pressures of the rise in living costs, promising to do this from October this year. The government reassured that this could reduce the average household’s electricity bill by £45, obviously depending on the demand from home to home. Burnham revealed that the funding that was allocated towards Starmer’s digital ID scheme would be used instead for this scheme. The digital ID scheme would have cost the government £1.8 billion over the span of 3 years. This is great news for billpayers and homeowners and also great for the public to see money is being spent in areas that will help the general public, rather than put towards a pointless scheme that would only benefit the government.

On the Buses

Single-trip bus fares will be down to and capped at £2 from January, just £1 down from current prices. This reverses the increase that Starmer and Rachel Reeves put in place in 2024. Unfortunately, this cap will only last until the end of 2027 and will exclude London buses. This move is expected to cost £454 million, and ministers have said money will be put aside for devolved governments to make similar moves like this in the future. Concerns have been raised by experts that his decision to use the aid budget to pay for cheaper bus fares in England will leave the country's most vulnerable people at risk, especially those who are facing the brunt of the climate crisis. For those living in London, the city with the highest use of public transport not having their fares lowered could be increasingly problematic as many residents rely on moves like this from the government to compensate for the cost of living in London specifically being so high.

On the topic of public transport, free bus travel for people with disabilities has also been revisited. At the moment, those passes can only be used from 9.30am until 11pm on weekdays. This will be changed to 24/7 free bus travel for those passholders, ensuring that they won’t lose out on early morning appointments and work. The government has committed £60 million to pay for this change and has delayed this implementation of the policy until next April so that local authorities have the time to make the changes necessary for the arrangement and so the government has a chance to amend legislation, should it need amending.

An End to Rough Sleeping

Burnham has announced that ending rough sleeping by Christmas has been made a central policy for his government. Although he did not promise to completely abolish rough sleeping, he has promised that anyone who is in that situation will be offered a route off the streets. They're putting £442 million behind a national drive to get everyone in for Christmas. Over £100 million will pay for medical care and addiction support, and £340 million has been taken from existing housing budgets over the next 3 years will be used to get more people into accommodation and settled housing. No targets have been set for this policy as officials also acknowledged that they do not hold the power to force anybody into accommodation or force anybody into the care of the government but will strive to make it accessible to all.

A 20% cut in business rates for pubs, social clubs and most live-music venues from April next year that almost 32,000 businesses could benefit from, with the average pub looking at saving at least £1,100 a year. Ministers have expected this to cost around £100 million a year, insisting that they will pay for it by making other businesses such as vape shops pay more in rates, which will crack down on overseas sellers avoiding VAT on online marketplaces.

Rewiring the State

During Burnham’s speech, where he addressed parliament, he stated how he wanted to ‘rewire the state’ through the devolution of powers to local areas. He has a “Manchesterism” view on politics that centres on a business-friendly socialism and decentralised regional growth whilst also wanting to stick to the 2024 Labour manifesto. Kemi Badenoch commented on his plans and promises, saying that “the country needs him to succeed” but his ideas seem to be about more spending. This is quite conflicting as these ideas seem to align with what the public saw problematic with Starmer, and it is clear Burnham is trying to correct that tendency and spend money where it is needed - spending to save where possible.

Justice System Reforms

Alex Norris, the Justice Secretary, delivered his own statement to the MP’s on the reforms to the justice system which as we know is a current problem. Norris argued that when Labour took over in 2024, they inherited a ‘crisis’ in prisons; they were at 99% capacity with less than 100 available spaces at one time. That was not sustainable as crime rates had skyrocketed at that point in time, and he described it as a “total breakdown of law and order with victims bearing the brunt”. He revealed their review on prison reforms and sentencing, introducing changes to early releases and building more prison cells. He also added that he would have gone further with these reforms, but the decisions they had to make were ‘difficult’. He acknowledged how difficult this is for the victims and ended his statement by noting that “there must always be space for dangerous offenders, because protecting the public means fixing the problems for good; otherwise, it is the victims that are let down”.

So how do we feel about these reforms? Whilst these promises look to be a step in the right direction, Burnham has definitely centred socio-economic issues to be ones that he fixes first. We can expect big things from Burnham and his new team, and it will be interesting to note the knock-on effect when these plans are in action. This country faces a lot more issues than this, and from how he has conducted himself in the first month of his role as Prime Minister is incredibly promising. Is he really the man of the people he seems to be? Only time will tell.