Burnham cuts VAT on electricity bills in first major policy announcement – UK politics live

Move is expected to save households around £45 a year in effort to tackle cost of living

Burnham to cut VAT on electricity bills in first cost-of-living move

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics. Andy Burnham has announced an £850m tax cut on electricity bills to help ease cost of living pressures in his first significant policy announcement as prime minister. It means that electricity bills will be reduced by an average of £45 a year from October.

Downing Street said the move will be partly funded by scrapping Keir Starmer’s digital ID scheme, which would have cost an estimated £1.8bn over three years.

Good news that VAT will be cut on electricity bills. It’s a simple way for families to save a few quid, and to mechanically help to keep inflation that little bit lower. But the DigitalID program was unfunded. The government will have to set out how it will pay for its new policies at the budget.

Chancellor: John Healey

Foreign secretary: Ed Miliband

Home secretary: Shabana Mahmood

Health secretary: Yvette Cooper

Work and pensions secretary: Pat McFadden

Housing secretary: Angela Rayner

Business secretary: Jonathan Reynolds

Education secretary: Lucy Powell

Equalities minister: Bridget Phillipson

Culture secretary: Lisa Nandy

Defence secretary: Wes Streeting

Justice secretary: Alex Norris

Environment secretary: Angela Eagle

Energy secretary: Miatta Fahnbulleh

Scottish secretary: Douglas Alexander

Welsh secretary: Stephen Kinnock

Northern Ireland secretary: Chris Bryant

Transport secretary: Heidi Alexander

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster: Louise Haigh

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