Good morning. Prime ministers tend to get judged by posterity by the decisions they take on the big issues of the day. But little things matter too in the here and now, often disproportionately, and Andy Burnham, more than his predecessors, has decided that what he calls “everyday fixes” are worth focusing on too. Alexandra Topping wrote a good analysis about the pluses and minuses of this approach last week. But she filed too soon, because this morning Burnham has announced another five.
These are all changes contained in tomorrow’s budget but being announced today – presumably because John Healey will have bigger surprises for MPs tomorrow, and the Treasury wants these measures to get some media attention today because tomorrow they will be overshadowed by another story.
One of the measures is of particular interest to the Guardian because we have highlighted the scandal that led to hundreds of thousands of people getting the carer’s allowance being ordered to pay back huge sums of money because inadvertently their weekly earnings went slightly above the threshold allowed. In other parts of the welfare system, people just have to return the overpayment, but the rules for carer’s allowance were draconian, and a tiny breach of the weekly earnings allowance could lead to people being ordered to pay back thousands of pounds.
As Patrick Butler and Pippa Crerar report in our splash, this rule is being scrapped.
But this is one of just five “everyday fixes” announced this morning. Here is what the Treasury says about them.
• Making higher tax-free mileage rates permanent and increasing support for nurses, care workers, self employed builders and others who drive for work. The chancellor is locking in the 55p per mile rate for the first 10,000 business miles and increasing the rate above 10,000 miles from 25p to 35p per mile, supporting around 3 million employees and self-employed people who use their own vehicle for work.
• Extending parental pay to more than 150,000 additional parents per year, including self-employed dads and partners who have previously missed out, giving eligible parents two weeks of support currently worth up to £194 a week so they can spend more time with their child.
• Ending the Carer’s Allowance cliff edge, so unpaid carers no longer lose their entire allowance simply for earning a penny over the Weekly Earnings Limit, equivalent to 16 hours of the National Living Wage. Instead, only £1 of support will taper away for every additional £1 earned.
• Removing import tariffs on more than 100 products, helping lower import costs on family favourites including baked beans, chocolate and gherkins, while also supporting farmers facing higher fertiliser bills and households that rely on kerosene heating oil. Together with tariff suspensions already introduced, households could save up to £21 on their food shop each year.
• Rolling out hundreds more Post Office drop boxes, bringing the total to 1,000, making it easier and more convenient for people to send and return parcels without having to queue at a Post Office counter, helping take some of the hassle out of everyday errands in the run-up to Christmas. This comes alongside upgrades to 600 Post Office branches by the end of the financial year, improving services for customers across the country.
There is more detail in the Treasury news release here.
It is always easy to mock, and the Conservatives could not resist. Here is their response, from Andrew Griffith, the shadow chancellor.
Rampant borrowing, soaring taxes and an utter inability to cut spending mean inflation has already wiped out the benefits of Burnham’s ‘everyday fixes’.
Shoppers face rising costs at the till and families are struggling to make ends meet, but Burnham’s plan is cheaper gherkins. This is an insult to families hammered by Labour’s tax rises.
The mention of gherkins in the Treasury press release did come as a surprise, given that they are not a key feature of the national diet, but maybe someone in Whitehall read the reports earlier this year about their importance for Pret a Manger sandwiches.
The problem with the Tory response is that, even though “everyday fixes” might not make a big difference, people tend to welcome them anyway. This is from Novara Media’s Aaron Bastani.
Part of the genius with this stuff is the negative polarisation, when people start attacking perfectly sensible and helpful – albeit small – changes.
Actually I want longer Post Office queues please!
Here is the agenda for the day.
10.30am: Sarah Sackman, the courts minister, gives evidence to the Lords justice committee on support for jurors.
Morning: Andy Burnham hosts a meeting with Muslim leaders in No 10.
11.30am: Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
After 12.30pm: Dan Jarvis, the security minister, is expected to give a statement to MPs about the government’s ‘Be Ready’ resilience advice about stockpiling essentials.
I’m afraid we are no longer able to have comments open below the line every day on this blog. If you want to contact me, please email politics.live@theguardian.com. You can use this email to flag up corrections, comments for publication, questions or complaints.
