What’s included in Reeves’ cost of living plan, what isn’t – and who will really benefit?

Westminster has a particular obsession with plumbers at the moment, and not just because the state of the toilets in Parliament House is bordering on scandalous.

Plumber Hannah Spencer’s victory for the Greens in the Gorton and Denton by-election, as well as the selection of Reform UK’s own ‘brave plumber’ Robert Kenyon to fight Andy Burnham for the Makerfield seat, has brought a new appreciation for the man and woman in the white van – the ‘real working people’ that Sir Keir Starmer is so fond of referring to.

So it’s no surprise that the biggest “cost of living” measure announced by Rachel Reeves in the House of Commons to deal with the impact of Donald Trump’s war in the Middle East is aimed at helping those who need vans and cars to work. He even checked the plumbers’ names.

It has been 15 years since the tax-free mileage rate was raised from 40p to 45p by a chancellor, George Osborne; So Ms Reeves’s 10p increase, dated to April 2026, is a huge boost for people who use their vehicles for work, especially a win for the man in the white van. It will significantly help offset costs from taxes.

The Chancellor has already extended the fuel duty cut until the end of the year and it comes amid concerns that oil and gas prices are rising sharply along with ongoing uncertainty over the war in the Middle East.

But while this was the biggest benefit of the measures, there was little that could be done to cope with household bills and teenagers’ costs. The rest was incremental at best.

Ms Reeves’s plans for free bus rides for children over the summer holidays have already been thwarted by the removal of tariffs on a significant number of 100 food items, which include, among other things, biscuits and baked beans.

VAT has also been discounted by up to 5 per cent on tickets to summer events (not so much when some tickets cost over £80) and children’s meals.

Still, this would give families some help with household costs, especially during the summer holidays, and boost the UK’s domestic tourism industry.

But the big ticket items discussed were missing. The Chancellor has avoided a battle with supermarkets with a proposal to impose price ceilings on essentials such as bread, milk and eggs.

He also eschewed a package that would cap energy bills, a measure that collapsed Liz Truss’s government, because he almost certainly couldn’t afford it.

The ceramics industry, largely based in Stoke-on-Trent, has been helped with a £120 million package.

Ceramics is much more than bathroom and kitchen tiles and dinner plates; It is also important for the aviation industry.

But the real reason for this is that Stoke is a major battleground between Labor and Reform. Boris Johnson’s Conservatives won in 2019, Labor won in 2024, but now Nigel Farage’s party is set to take the region by storm.

And in some ways, this very special package sums up a deeply political announcement.

After all, the context is that this is a government heading towards collapse. The prime minister could be replaced before the summer, and his chancellor, Ms Reeves, will surely follow him out the door.

Uncertainty hampers ministers as they attempt to do anything significant. So while this announcement will help parents and low-income households, it’s more about reminding people that Keir Starmer’s government is still alive and still trying to do things, although not much.

It is a testament to life for a government that many thought was dead, and in a way Ms. Reeves’s attempt to validate her economic legacy as change looms.

His claim is that major changes are not necessary because “the fundamentals are correct” and the International Monetary Fund upgraded its low forecast for growth.

But the truth is that this was Ms. Reeves’ last chance to lend political support to this government in the face of seemingly inevitable change.