Two days ago, reporting on Andy Burnham's arrival in office, we noted that his promise to help with the cost of living was a stated intention rather than a policy, and that the substance would have to be judged when the measures existed. The first of them now does.
Burnham has announced that value-added tax will be removed from domestic electricity bills, with effect from October 1, according to Al Jazeera. He framed it as giving people "some breathing space now, some help with the cost of living."
What the measure is
VAT is a consumption tax added to the price of most goods and services in the UK. Domestic energy is already taxed at a reduced rate rather than the standard one, so removing it entirely from electricity lowers household bills by that remaining percentage.
Al Jazeera's report does not carry a per-household saving figure, and it is worth not inventing one; the value depends on how much electricity a household uses, so the benefit is larger for higher users and, in cash terms, smaller for the lowest. What can be said is that it is a broad, universal cut rather than a targeted one: it reaches every electricity-billed household, which is politically simple and administratively easy, but which also means the money is not concentrated on those who need it most.
The timing is specific. October 1 is the start of the colder half of the year, when electricity use and bills rise, so the cut is designed to land as the burden it addresses grows.
How it is paid for
A tax cut has to be funded, and this one is tied to a saving Burnham had already announced.
His government is scrapping the BritCard digital identity scheme, which we reported on earlier this week. Al Jazeera puts the saving from that cancellation at £1.8 billion, and the electricity measure is being funded from it. (Reporting earlier in the week gave a larger figure for the scheme's total projected cost over three years; the £1.8 billion is the figure now being attached to the funding of this cut, and the two are not necessarily measuring the same period.)
That linkage is the interesting part of the policy design. Rather than fund the cut from borrowing or a new tax, the government is presenting it as a reallocation: money that would have built a digital ID system will instead reduce electricity bills. Whether the sums genuinely match, and whether a one-off saving can fund a recurring tax cut, are the questions an opposition and a budget watchdog will press.
The cabinet
Burnham also named his cabinet. The headline appointments confirm what was reported earlier: John Healey is chancellor, replacing Rachel Reeves, who has been sacked, as has David Lammy.
The notable new name is Ed Miliband as foreign secretary. Miliband, a former Labour leader, has been most associated in recent years with energy and climate policy, which makes his move to the Foreign Office a particular choice, and a contested one.
The argument it will start
Al Jazeera reports that the Miliband appointment has already drawn opposition, and the objection is worth stating fairly because it connects to the electricity policy.
Critics argue that Miliband's climate and net-zero positions could push energy prices up over time, which sits awkwardly beside a government cutting a tax on electricity to bring bills down. His approach has also drawn hostile comment from the US administration; Al Jazeera reports that Trump's energy secretary characterised it in strongly critical terms. Questions have also been raised about his past positions on Syria.
Supporters would counter that reducing dependence on volatile fossil-fuel markets is itself a route to lower and more stable bills over the long run, and that the tension between short-term price cuts and long-term energy strategy is one every government faces.
That debate is now live, and it is a more concrete one than the day-one rhetoric that preceded it. Two days ago there was a stated direction. There is now a tax cut with a date on it, a funding source to argue about, and a foreign secretary whose appointment has opened an argument about the government's energy thinking. The substance has arrived, and it can be judged.
