CABINET RESHUFFLE:
Former defense secretary John Healey was appointed finance minister, while Wes Streeting took over his post; Ed Miliband returns as foreign secretary
New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a tax cut to ease cost-of-living pressures prior to convening his first Cabinet meeting yesterday afternoon.A day after earlier replacing Keir Starmer in Downing Street and purging the government of his predecessor’s loyalists, the 56-year-old yesterday morning said he was cutting the value-added tax on consumer electricity bills.New Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Jonathan Reynolds told Sky News this was a “tremendous announcement for the first day of the new Cabinet.”
Incoming secretary of defense Wes Streeting, left, and incoming secretary of state for Northern Ireland Chris Bryant arrive ahead of a Cabinet meeting in Downing Street in London yesterday.
The measure cuts the 5 percent tax from October and would trim about ￡45 (US$60) a year off, and would be initially funded by canceling a plan to introduce digital IDs.It came after Burnham promised to “give people some breathing space now, some help with the cost of living.”
