It’s remarkable how much of modern life can seem designed to wear us down. Every “sale” seems to come with an asterisk. Consumer contracts often find a way of costing more than you expected. And too many companies want you to sign up in seconds, but then make it feel impossible to leave. It’s exhausting.
They might not be the issues that keep you up at night. But they’re often the reason you go to bed ticked off. Westminster has got used to telling people that these everyday hassles are just part of life. The response has too often been a shrug of the shoulders or just calling it bad luck.
I don’t think that’s right. Because these everyday hassles affect millions of people. And they add up. Every single one is an unnecessary cost. And when the cost of living continues to weigh heavily on so many people’s lives, we need to be pulling every single lever we can to help ease that.
But they add up in another way too. Every single unexpected payment, rip off or hidden catch chips away at hope. That might sound dramatic – but it’s true. Every single one is another message that this country is built to catch people out rather than help them get on.
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I want people to start believing in Britain again. But we’ll only get there by building a country that feels fair. And that means getting a grip on those issues that get people’s backs up day in, day out. So we are going to do things differently. We are going to get on with the everyday fixes that make life easier and more affordable. As far as I’m concerned, whatever the size, big or small, if it’s a problem for you, it’s a problem for us.
That’s why I’ve made it clear from day one that creating room to breathe is my number one priority, and the whole of this government is united on that. We won’t be able to solve every frustration overnight. But where the government can save people money, remove an unnecessary obstacle or simply make something work better, we should – and we will.
We are kicking off with a couple of first steps on those everyday hassles that people tell me about time and time again.
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First, we are putting an end to phoney bargains. We are taking on poor practices that make people’s lives harder. If something is advertised as half price, it should actually be half price. We will make sure that when families snatch a deal, they can be confident they’re actually saving. That’s the least they deserve when budgets are so tight.
Second, we are making it as easy to leave a subscription as it is to join, and businesses won’t be able to renew a subscription without notifying you. New rules will come into force in January 2027, in time for when people often start new subscriptions, or cancel the ones they have, for the year ahead.
There are about 155m active subscriptions in the UK, with consumers spending an estimated £1.6bn a year on ones they don’t actually want – a direct hit to family budgets. The changes we are introducing will save an average of £14 a month for every unwanted subscription.
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These are just a couple of our everyday fixes. There will be more to come over the next few months and bigger plans to make life easier and fairer for people over the longer term.
Each everyday fix will be designed to put a bit more money back into people’s pockets, to make daily life a little fairer and to give people a bit more hope that politics really can work for them again.
I will also be asking people what action they want to see on the cost of living. Because if we want to find the problems that make everyday life harder, we need to listen to the people dealing with them.
So over the summer, I will be getting out to regions across country to hear directly from people about the challenges they face and the changes they want to see.
Westminster has spent too long asking people to wait for life to get better. This government is determined to make it better and to bring back hope. My message to people is simple: this will be a cost-of-living government and we will be on your side to prevent you being overcharged, trapped or misled.
