Voters like Andy Burnham’s ‘everyday fixes’. The hard calls start now

A meeting at the Labour conference was shown a word cloud of the things voters say about Andy Burnham. As you’d expect in an age of widespread disillusionment with the political class, some of the descriptors are rude. “Useless” looms large. But there are also positives. Of them, “Trying” comes up in the largest font. Voters think he actively wants to improve things, something they doubted about Sir Keir Starmer. This finding caused much satisfaction among prime ministerial aides who have looked at the presentation by More in Common.

“The politics of trying is the phrase that gets kicked around a lot in Number 10,” reports one insider. If there is an animating theme of Our Andy’s opening chapter, it is to persuade the public that the prime minister “gets” how much folk are struggling with the cost of living. An early announcement that he would remove VAT from electricity bills was followed by another capping bus fares in England at £2. He has been voluble about unfair parking charges, cowboy builders and expensive school uniforms.

Even when initiatives are modest, the evidence is that they “cut through” to voters, who generally appreciate tangible activity to give them a helping hand. That theme continued in John Healey’s “everyday fixes” budget. The word “breathing space” appeared on the title page of the Red Book, as I predicted it would, and was repeated more than half a dozen times in the chancellor’s speech. Fuel duty is to be frozen again. There’s to be a new scheme to help first-time home buyers.

One hundred pounds to help with soaring energy bills will be swooshing into the bank accounts of about 8 in 10 households over the winter. It is easy to mock this kind of stuff as simplistic and scattergun bungs. Wonkish leftie types shudder at the crudity. The Resolution Foundation complains that the energy bill subsidy for everyone in council tax bands A to D is a thinly spread and poorly targeted wheeze that will give a cash handout regardless of genuine need.

True enough. So it is. I am sure the brainiacs at the foundation could have constructed a much more sophisticated formula for distributing the help. Trouble is, barely anyone outside the world of thinktankery would have understood the algorithm. Everyone can see the meaning of a hundred quid direct into the pockets of 20 million households. Shortly after the chancellor stopped speaking, the volume of people checking whether they qualified crashed a government website.

The typical voter has no idea what politicians are on about when they yammer away about the pros and cons of neoliberalism The typical voter has no idea what politicians are on about when they yammer away about the pros and cons of neoliberalism The Tories have not been so foolish as to attack the government for trying to help with the cost of living. The opposition has jeered about the jarring mismatch between Mr Burnham’s pretensions to be a transformative prime minister and the fiddly measures announced by his chancellor.

“Is that it?” crowed Kemi Badenoch when it was her turn to address the Commons. “The prime minister came in promising to reverse 40 years of neoliberalism. Instead, we got 4p off gherkins!” Tory MPs enjoyed that; Labour ones did not. It was a good gag, but the real punchline is this. The typical voter has no idea what politicians are on about when they yammer away about the pros and cons of neoliberalism. Everyone can understand what the government is trying to do when it shaves down the price of baked beans and other basic goods.

This emphasis on the cost of living is not unique to Britain’s government. Administrations of various ideological complexions are doing the same around the globe. Japan’s conservative prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has responded to the crisis in the Middle East by slashing the sales tax on grocery food and beverages for two years, while using a government subsidy to suppress petrol prices. Mark Carney’s centrist government in Canada has implemented several affordability measures under the slogan “Reducing costs and helping you get ahead”.

The Burnham government is copying the playbook of Australia’s Labor administration, which introduced cash relief on power bills two years ago. Whether we’re talking about voters down under, in the great white north or the land of the rising sun, help with the cost of living is liked by the public. It also – and here’s my first caveat – has its limits. Governments won’t be able to afford subsidies without end and voters will be stupid if they expect them.

Some of the giveaways in Mr Healey’s debut budget involved what may come to look like sleight of hand. The chancellor promised that he’d scrap the standing charge on gas bills and eventually remove them from electricity bills as well. They’ve never been liked so I am sure that will poll well. But it will be paid for by an increase in the unit costs. Those who don’t use much energy will see a benefit; those who consume more will feel pain.

Related articles: Government defends Palestine Action ban ahead of legal case Labour could end council coalitions with Greens if ‘Zionism is racism’ motion stands Ministers will privately admit that the cost of living measures the government can afford are dwarfed by the impact of soaring fuel prices and increased borrowing costs driven by Donald Trump’s disastrous conflict with Iran. Making the Strait of Hormuz safe for navigation would do much more for the living standards of British families than anything announced by the chancellor.

The Office for Budget Responsibility thinks the economy will grow more slowly in 2027 than it did this year. The Institute for Fiscal Studies is predicting the worst decade for household incomes on record. The long-term prospects for living standards will depend not on the packet of sticking plasters applied by the chancellor but on the government making bold decisions that nurture growth by encouraging entrepreneurship, productivity and skills, getting more young people into employment, spreading prosperity more evenly across the country, investing wisely in infrastructure, having a sensible relationship with our nearest trading partners in the EU, and adapting to the changes that will be wrought by AI.

About nearly all of this, a holding pattern budget did not have much to say. “The room for manoeuvre wasn’t what I would have hoped it would be,” said a rather plaintive prime minister in the aftermath. His people are arguing that the budget was just the initial step of a three-stage process. A 10-year plan is promised before Christmas. Then there will be next year’s spending review. Lord make me reform welfare, fix social care and properly fund defence, but not yet.

Voters like it when government sweats the small stuff. But Andy Burnham’s legacy will ultimately rest on whether he has the judgment and the courage to get the big calls right. What are your thoughts on this? Email us at letters@observer.co.uk Photograph by Darren Staples / AFP via Getty Images Labour Economy Politics Andy Burnham Cost of living crisis John Healey