Andy Burnham vowed to “pull every single lever” to reduce the cost of living ahead of a summer tour of the UK.
The Prime Minister, after taking a holiday a little over a fortnight into the job, will 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.
But he is under pressure over his handling of the prisoner release row, with two of Pc Andrew Harper’s killers still set to be freed early despite Mr Burnham’s review of the plans.
Mr Burnham intends to focus on “everyday fixes” to ease the financial pressures on households.
He 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 under Sir Keir Starmer, 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 this autumn 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.
“I’m determined to pull every single lever we can to provide people with some room to breathe on the cost of living.”
The action on subscriptions and “phoney bargains” were “just two of the everyday fixes we’re going to be rolling out”, he promised.
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% 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 Monday’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.
Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said: “Andy Burnham has already run out of ideas.
“The cost of living didn’t become a problem last week, so you have to ask why it has taken Labour so long to enact legislation passed by the previous government.
“Labour’s tax hikes have sent costs soaring for hardworking families and destroyed jobs. Consultations and reheated measures won’t make up for that.”
Lib Dem Treasury spokeswoman Daisy Cooper said: “We Liberal Democrats have long called for stronger consumer protections and we want to see the Government go further.
“If the new PM is serious about this, he should introduce strengthened protections against rogue traders, make energy bills fairer by giving everyone a discount on their essential usage, and clamp down on the big supermarkets’ unfair shrinkflation tactics.
“With a new PM in place, people up and down the country will expect to see big changes and soon.”
Green Party leader Zack Polanski criticised the Prime Minister for failing to convene a meeting of the Cobra crisis committee to deal with the impact of the summer heatwave and drought.
He said: “This is the greatest crisis this country has faced since the Second World War and to complacently dismiss the demands for immediate action by saying everything is under control is gross negligence, blatantly untrue and misses the severity of the crisis.”
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