Burnham promises to ease cost of living pressures if he becomes prime minister | Andy Burnham

In his first interview after returning to parliament, Andy Burnham promised to ease the cost of living if he became prime minister.

The Makerfield MP told LBC that if he becomes prime minister later this month as expected, he would consider reducing business rates for some high street businesses, reducing water and energy costs by deprivatizing companies and making bus travel free for 16-18 year olds.

The measures are likely to be included as part of an emergency cost-of-living package that allies say could include more radical measures such as freezing private sector rents.

Burnham told the station’s Andrew Marr: “There’s some room in there [the 2024] Tax action manifesto. If we take business rates for example, I believe there is a case for higher business rates in warehouses and the big developments we see on the outskirts of our cities, so we can reduce business rates for pubs.

He added: “Britain pays too much for basic needs. People pay too much, but businesses also pay too much, and that certainly applies to energy too.”

“What I will do if I am successful is to put together a plan that will give more public control over water, energy and transportation so that over the period we can reduce those bills, reduce those fees and give people and businesses breathing room.

“Britain needs more breathing room… We need to get serious about putting more money in people’s pockets.”

Polls suggest Burnham’s promises of heavy political intervention to ease cost-of-living pressures will be popular with the public. Research by Persuasion UK shows that if Labor runs on a platform of “cost of living populism” it would win 263 more seats than if it continued on its current course.

Burnham’s allies have called on her to freeze rents for a year, remove green taxes from energy bills and fund them through taxes instead, and lower the cap on bus fares.

But implementing such promises brings its own problems, including finding ways to pay for them. Wes Streeting, the former health secretary and likely member of Burnham’s cabinet, suggested increasing capital gains tax but Treasury officials warned it would not bring in any extra money.

Meanwhile, experts say bringing utilities under public control will not necessarily lower consumer bills, especially given the levels of investment needed in the water industry.

The former Greater Manchester mayor has vowed not to break government borrowing rules to fund policy ambitions.

“I’m not undisciplined when it comes to public finances; I was in the Treasury, I ran the Department of Health,” he said.

And he promised to spend some of his working time in Manchester, where he planned to locate part of the No. 10 operation. On Thursday he confirmed his preferred location for “No 10 North” was a digital campus being built near Manchester Piccadilly station.

“I’m going to spend time there because I think it’s really important to make a new effort to take power away from Westminster,” he said.