Westminster Life: Breathing space on the cost of living

Andy Burnham's first week in Downing Street has brought help for family budgets and a fresh promise on homelessness, writes Andrew Pakes MP

It has been quite a first week for our new Prime Minister. Since walking through the door of Number 10, Andy Burnham has moved fast, and the announcements this week will make a genuine difference here in Peterborough.

First came the scrapping of VAT on household electricity bills. From October until the end of March, that 5% tax disappears from every bill just before winter bites. It is a small but meaningful step, funded by scrapping the last government's Digital ID scheme rather than asking families to pay more elsewhere. Immediate action with more changes to come.

Then came transport, and here Peterborough is already ahead of the curve. The new £2 cap on single bus fares from January will help ease the cost of bus travel. The additional government funding will also help secure the future of the Tiger Pass. Introduced by Labour, the Tiger Pass – which pledges a £1 fare for young people – has already seen 50,000 sign ups. With a national cap now in place, there is no excuse not to extend the Tiger Pass further, and I will keep making that case to the Combined Authority.

Families should also know that every child aged 16 and under can travel free on participating buses throughout August, thanks to the summer savings scheme. I’ve also been pleased to see real progress towards a new bus depot, giving our buses a modern home away from the cramped Lincoln Road site, easing congestion and paving the way for electric buses.

Thursday brought a third measure, cutting business rates by a fifth for pubs, clubs and music venues. Peterborough's pubs are the beating heart of our community, and this support, worth around £1,100 to a typical pub, should help keep more open and thriving. Many of you have made the case for further help for hospitality and I am pleased the new PM has listened.

But the announcement that means the most to me personally is the pledge to finally end long-term rough sleeping. I hear about this constantly on the doorstep and in my inbox. Peterborough inherited a real legacy of rough sleeping, and while we have secured extra funding in recent months to help people off our streets, I have always been clear we need to do more. I have been working closely with the Light Project and other local partners, who do extraordinary work through the Garden House, and I know they will welcome a government finally matching local compassion with national investment.

None of these measures alone will transform lives overnight, but together they mark a new direction for this government, one that understands what is keeping people up at night, whether that's the electricity bill, the bus fare to work, the local pub closing down, or a neighbour sleeping rough in our city centre. It’s been a busy week, and Westminster feels like it is moving with fresh hope, but that means nothing if we can’t bring that hope and energy to our city. I will keep holding ministers to account to make sure Peterborough gets its fair share of this new energy from Westminster.