Two before-breakfast announcements on consecutive days set the tone for the new UK prime minister, who entered 10 Downing Street on Monday after winning the Labour leadership unopposed following Keir Starmer's resignation.
The cost of living dominated Andy Burnham's first speech, and on Tuesday he told his newly assembled ministers they would form a "cost of living government" whose job was to convince households "that help is coming".
The same day, the British government said it would remove the 5% VAT from household electricity bills from October until the end of the financial year next April, expected to knock an average of £45 (€53) off yearly household bills.
The cut is to be paid for by scrapping the digital ID programme, prompting questions over whether that money had ever been set aside.
Downing Street insisted the measure was "fully funded" as departments were to absorb the digital ID scheme from existing budgets and will now redirect those savings.
