Andy Burnham's (Un)Funded Tax Cut

Today, on the first full day of his premiership Prime Minister Andy Burnham has laid out plans for scrapping VAT on household electricity bills and has claimed he wants a ‘cost of living government’. Burnham said he would scrap VAT on household electricity bills in October, saving a typical household about £45 a year. This will be paid for by scrapping Keir Starmer's digital ID scheme, No 10 says, but ex-minister Darren Jones argues the ID scheme was "unfunded". Adam, Alex and Faisal discuss. You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord Get in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480. New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter was Adam Fleming. It was made by Jack Maclaren with Rosie Merota and Shiler Mahmoudi. The social producer was Beth Pritchard . The technical producer was Rohan Madison. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.