Britain’s new PM promises to cap cost of bus tickets

LONDON - Britain’s new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, promised on July 22 to cut the price of single bus tickets by up to a third as part of an early push to ease a cost-of-living crisis.

The move to cap the tickets at £2 (S$3.50) from January came a day after his government said it would cut taxes on electricity bills.

The bus ticket cap was backed by extra funding of £454 million which would come from reprioritising spending in the budget of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Downing Street said.

“As I said on my first day in office – I will build a country for everyone, everywhere. That means more connected communities, better access to opportunities, and a lighter load on people’s lives,” Burnham said in the statement.

The government said on July 21 it would remove value-added tax from domestic electricity bills from Oct 1, cutting around £45 from the average annual bill of around £1,862 that households pay.

Burnham has said he will unveil more early policies, telling reporters on July 20 he wanted his new government “to do some things that people will feel and feel quite quickly”, especially those on the lowest incomes. REUTERS