Andy Burnham to visit Yorkshire as part of summer cost of living tour

The Prime Minister intends to spend much of the rest of August travelling the country asking the public how the Government can improve their lives.

Andy Burnham is to visit Yorkshire in the coming weeks as part of his summer cost-of-living tour, which he has pledged will provide “everyday fixes” for rising bills.

The Prime Minister intends to spend much of the rest of August travelling the country asking the public how the Government can improve their lives.

Officials have said he will be in “listening mode”, with a focus on tackling the cost of living and improving local high streets.

He has pledged to visit every region and nation, telling the Mirror: “This month I'm out of Westminster and into your town. Not for the photographs, but because I want to hear directly from people in their communities.

“I'll be asking one question: what would actually make your life better?”

Mr Burnham is expected to announce a series of “everyday fixes” to reduce costs, promising to “pull every single lever we can to provide people with some room to breathe on the cost of living”.

Today, he will accelerate plans to tackle “subscription traps” by requiring companies to make it easier to cancel subscriptions and provide more information about costs up-front rather than quietly auto-renewing them at a higher price.

The changes, announced in April, had been expected to come into force next spring, but Mr Burnham will bring their introduction forward to January.

He will also launch a consultation on adding deceptive discount offers to the Competition and Markets Authority’s list of banned practices.

This would make it easier for the watchdog to punish firms that engage in practices such as artificially inflating prices and then immediately offering a “discount” to make a product look much better value than it is.

The Prime Minister said: “I know people are sick and tired of rip-off discounts and subscription traps.

“Westminster has got used to telling people that everyday hassles like this are just part of life.

“I don’t think that’s right, especially when the cost of living continues to weigh heavily on so many people’s lives.”

Dame Clare Moriarty, chief executive of Citizens Advice, welcomed the proposals, saying subscription traps and deceptive discounts were “a widespread problem”.

Citizens Advice has previously found 26 per cent of UK adults had accidentally taken out a subscription in a single year, with the Government saying its action on subscriptions could save households £14 per month.

Further announcements are expected over the summer, with the Prime Minister describing today’s proposals as “just the start”.

Opposition figures have criticised his August plans as a “vanity tour” offering only “tinkering”, and urged him to implement broader tax cuts.

Mr Burnham’s summer tour follows his pledge on his first day in office to give the public “breathing space” on bills.

In his first week in Downing Street, he announced cuts to VAT on household energy bills and a £2 cap on bus fares as immediate measures to tackle the cost of living.

But rising costs remain a major issue for the public as the fallout from the Iran war keeps inflation higher than expected

A poll published by Ipsos at the end of July found 30 per cent of people listed the economy as a major concern while 22 per cent listed inflation or prices specifically.