Budget 2026 latest: Chancellor Healey to cut food costs in bid to deliver ‘everyday fixes’

The chancellor has unveiled cuts to the cost of supermarket staples including baked beans, gherkins and chocolate ahead of his major Budget announcement this week.

John Healey has announced the removal of import tariffs on over 100 products, as Andy Burnham pledges to deliver “breathing space” for families and businesses in the first Budget under his leadership.

The move is one of a series of so-called “everyday fixes” announced before the Budget on Wednesday, and comes alongside changes to parental pay and carers allowance.

Products expected to see their tariffs cut also include jams, marmalades, garlic and toffees, alongside kerosene and fertilisers.

Meanwhile the chancellor announced he will make the 55p per mile tax-free mileage rates permanent, and that parental pay will be extended to more than 150,000 additional parents per year, including self-employed dads and partners.

The prime minister said the changes will “make life a little easier” for Britons, and said: “At Wednesday’s Budget, we’ll go further to give families and businesses the breathing space they need today, while we build a stronger economy, transform our country and bring down cost for people long-term.”

Key Points

• Burnham opens up biggest lead since general election after 100 days in office
• Products included in the chancellor's tariff cuts
• Stocks rally before Budget and interest rate calls
• Burnham says he wants to see the UK to rejoin the EU in his lifetime

Chancellor: 'Everyday fixes are small part of giving families breathing space'

John Healey said: “Today’s everyday fixes are just a small part of what we are doing to give families a bit of breathing space.

“Conflict in the Middle East and Europe is hitting families here at home through higher everyday costs.

“We can’t control global events, but we can act where we can make a difference.”

Watch: UK households urged to prepare for emergencies and ‘attacks’ in new government guidance

In pictures: Burnham meets with Healey with Budget to come this week

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Burnham: Brexit is to blame for Britain’s small boats crisis

Burnham wants to give every rough sleeper an offer of help by year’s end

Andy Burnham said he wanted to give “every single person” sleeping on the streets an offer of help by the end of this year.

It comes as the Budget is set to deliver a £432-million boost to help ensure homeless people are off the streets by Christmas.

Speaking at a rough sleeping summit in Downing Street, Mr Burnham said: “Just think how it will feel if we get to the end of this year… and we know at a national level, that we did give every single person an offer of help this end of year.”

He went on: “I am asking you all from the front here today. Please, we must turn this into something tangible for everybody.

“It doesn’t mean that everybody will be able to take up the offer and everybody will be able to have their life turned around.

“But the fact that we give them that offer will put enough hope in their heart that something will be coming and something will change as we go into the new year.

“That’s our collective mission, everybody.”

Ministers unveil five ‘everyday fixes’ to help with living costs ahead of Budget

Ministers have unveiled five “everyday fixes” to help people with the cost-of-living crisis ahead of Wednesday’s Budget.

A higher tax-free mileage allowance will be made permanent, and tariffs on a range of foods will be slashed to bring down their prices, the chancellor and prime minister have announced as part of a series of steps to help with heightened living costs.

Andy Burnham also said the government will do more to give people and businesses “breathing space” at Wednesday’s fiscal event, beyond the measures he and John Healey have already announced.

Under the raft of measures revealed on Tuesday, and which are expected to be included in Wednesday’s Budget, the chancellor will lock in the 55p mileage rate for those who have to drive for work, for the first 10,000 miles.

Rates above that will be raised from 25p to 35p, with the government hoping the overall package will help a total of three million employees and self-employed people.

The government is also removing tariffs on more than 100 products, including favourite foods such as baked beans, chocolate and gherkins.

This will save households some £21 on food shopping over the course of the year, according to the Treasury.

Tariff cuts on fertilisers are meanwhile aimed at farmers, while a tariff cut on kerosene will help homes which use the fuel as a heating oil.

Ministers also plan to extend parental pay to more than 150,000 parents each year, including self-employed fathers who had previously missed out.

A cliff edge on carer’s allowance will be ended, with the government instead tapering away £1 of the benefit for every £1 earned above the weekly limit.

Stocks rally before Budget and interest rate calls

Stocks in London started the week on the front foot, ending Monday in the green, as investors looked ahead to the autumn Budget and a busy week of central bank interest rate calls.

In London, the FTSE 100 index ended up 76.97 points, 0.7 per cent, at 10,767.33. The FTSE 250 ended 263.86 points higher, 1.1 per cent, at 24,501.25, and the AIM all-share advanced 6.51 points, 0.9 per cent, at 753.18.

In London, investors are looking ahead to Wednesday’s autumn Budget at which chancellor John Healey is expected to announce an investment boost, and modest tax rises, as he seeks to placate the City, and keep backbench MPs on side.

“Wednesday’s Budget will be the main event for UK investors, with the reaction in bond and currency markets likely to matter more than the individual measures announced,” said Tom Stevenson, investment director at Fidelity International.

“With long bond yields in the UK approaching 6%, the most important job for the chancellor, John Healey, will be to reassure investors about the outlook for borrowing, growth and the public finances,” he added.

The Financial Times reported that Mr Healey is preparing to announce £20.4 billion in additional funding for the country’s state-backed business lender and infrastructure bank.

The funding, to be provided over roughly five years, is expected to create and support 100,000 jobs in sectors including artificial intelligence, defence and green energy by 2035, according to the Treasury.

Watch: I want to see the UK to rejoin the EU in my lifetime, Burnham says

Products included in the chancellor's tariff cuts:

• Garlic
• Gherkins
• Citrus jams, marmalades and pastes
• Throat pastilles and cough drops
• Boiled sweets
• Toffees, caramels and similar sweets
• Plant-based beverages
• Chocolate-coated waffles/wafers
• Kerosene
• Fertilisers

Healey should move focus to cheap power over net zero at Budget, Blair says

Chancellor John Healey should use the Budget to change the focus of Britain’s energy strategy from net zero to providing a cheap supply to consumers, Sir Tony Blair’s influential think tank has said.

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) also said the Government should use its forthcoming 10-year plan to lay out a series of reforms aimed at making energy cheaper in the UK.

Energy prices in Britain are among some of the highest in Europe, and the G7 group of countries, in part because of a significant dependence on natural gas, which often sets the overall price of electricity.

Gas prices have risen because of the wars in Iran and Ukraine, which has had a knock-on effect on energy prices.

In its latest report, released on the eve of the Budget, Sir Tony’s think tank has said the Government should replace its Clean Power 2030 strategy, which aims to decarbonise the grid, with a new “cheaper power mission”, the central aim of which is to bring down the price of energy.

The Budget could be the start of this, the TBI said, by introducing a programme which rewards businesses which use electricity at off-peak times, and in areas which do not place huge demand on the power system.

Burnham opens up biggest lead since general election after 100 days in office

Labour continues to increase its lead in the polls as the party sees its highest ratings of this parliament, according to a new survey.

The latest figures from Ipsos show that Andy Burnham’s party is now eight points clear of the Conservatives for voting intention, at 32 points to 24. Reform UK is placed third on 20 points in the poll.

Read more:

UK poll tracker: Burnham opens up biggest lead since general election after 100 days