THE GOVERNMENT will do what it can to help lower costs for businesses despite a "difficult financial outlook", prime minister Andy Burnham said on Wednesday.
Speaking to BBC Radio's 'Wake Up to Money' programme, Burnham said his government's budget, due on October 28, would look at business rates — a tax levied on shops, offices and other commercial premises — more broadly.
He also said he was looking at remodelling Britain's rail fares system to benefit the public. He repeated his long-term goal of increasing state control over water, energy and housing services to lower costs for households.
"I know the cost of doing business is too high, particularly for smaller businesses and I wouldn't want to promise the earth and say all can be solved because I think people can see I'm facing a difficult financial outlook and I won't bring forward things that I can't fully fund," Burnham said.
"I'm signalling going further on business rates. So there are things that we can do, and we'll do everything that is possible for us to do. But I think everyone knows that I'm in a position with limited room for manoeuvre."
Recent opinion polls show Burnham has fared well among voters in his first few weeks in the job, which have been marked by relatively small but electorally popular reforms.
These include a crackdown on high street vape shops, capping bus fares, cutting sales tax on electricity bills, lowering business rates on pubs and music venues, and curbing misleading product discounts and subscription traps.
Burnham said the strategy of an "accumulation of smaller things" could help ease pressure on household finances.
He has previously ruled out tax increases on working people but has not ruled out other tax hikes to enact reforms to social care. He and his finance minister, John Healey, have promised to stick to the government's fiscal rules, limiting the scope for additional borrowing.
