Paul Nowak colummn: ‘Showing working people Labour is on their side’

It was in Congress House, headquarters of the Trades Union Congress, that Andy Burnham became leader of the Labour Party last week – elected in a special conference that paved the way for him to become our Prime Minister. 

Andy pledged to “set a direction that is distinctively Labour” – and what could be more emblematic of that shift than to speak at the home of the trade union movement. 

Before he came into office, I urged the new Prime Minister to make sure that every announcement shows working people he’s on their side – and his first week has been a clear statement of intent. 

On Monday, his first day as Prime Minister, he pledged to end rough sleeping. On Tuesday, he announced a cut to VAT on energy bills. On Wednesday, he brought back the £2 cap on bus fares. And on Thursday, he’s pledged to cut business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues. 

It all comes at a time when working people are up against it with pay packets squeezed, over a million people stuck on insecure zero-hour contracts, and a million young people not in employment, education, or training. 

READ MORE: Britain, and Labour, believing in ourselves again

Energy bills have gone up by £437 since May 2021 costing households an extra £2,500 over the last five years. And with Donald Trump’s illegal war in Iran once again spiraling out of control, cost of living pressures are only going to get worse: the new price cap means that households are going to go up on average by another £221 a year. 

The VAT cut on energy bills announced this week will save the average household about £45 a year. That’s an important step which will offer some breathing space for people up and down the country, just as Andy has promised.  

But the new Prime Minister and Chancellor are going to have to go further in the cold winter months ahead. 

That’s why the TUC is calling for a permanent social tariff to knock hundreds of pounds off energy bills – with an emergency ratchet to increase support during acute energy crises like this one. 

The lowest income households would see an immediate 30% cut to their bills, saving up to £559 a year. Those on below average incomes would have 20% knocked off, saving up to £373, while middle and some higher income households would have bills cut by 10%, saving up to £186. 

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That’s support for two thirds of households, with most others covered by the existing price cap.

And we’re clear about how to pay for it. While working people have been under the cosh, the big banks have been raking it in. The financial sector paid out over £25 billion in bonuses last year, with the big four banks making over a billion pounds a week in profit in the first quarter of 2026. 

The Tories cut the bank surcharge – the extra corporation tax paid by banks on their profits – from 8 to 3%. Just reversing that cut would bring in £9 billion over four years. 

But if you tax the banks’ windfall profits at 35% – the same level as the Conservative government taxed the big energy companies – you could bring in up to £60 billion over four years.  

Andy has pledged to reindustrialise Britain, to support young people back into work, and to undo forty years of Thatcherism that have decimated communities. 

That’s an ambitious programme for government that could shift the economy back towards working people – and shielding households from punishing bill rises is the crucial first step. 

It would set a direction that’s distinctively Labour – and clearly show working people that this government is on their side.

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