Overview
- On Thursday Rachel Reeves unveiled the 'Great British Summer Savings' package that suspends import tariffs on about 100 food items, cuts VAT on family attractions for the summer and offers free bus travel for children in August.
- The plan also extends the temporary 5p fuel duty cut and includes business measures such as a mileage rate rise and targeted support for energy‑intensive industries.
- The Treasury said the package will be paid for by changes to how foreign branch profits of oil and gas firms are taxed, which officials expect to raise hundreds of millions of pounds a year.
- Ministers abandoned plans for a mandatory UK-wide price cap after talks with supermarkets and objections from retailers and the Bank of England, while Scotland’s government is pursuing its own compulsory price ceilings.
- Official data show CPI fell to 2.8% in April largely because Ofgem’s lower cap, but ministers warn the regulator’s cap is likely to rise in July and are preparing targeted winter support if market conditions worsen.