(Adnkronos) – The new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Andy Burnham, today announced a maximum cap of two pounds (about 2.34 euros) for bus tickets across the United Kingdom, a measure aimed at alleviating the rising cost of living in the country.
“For too long it has been said that cheaper transport was not an option. I do not accept that. I have done it before and I am doing it again: a maximum cap of two pounds for bus fares for millions of people across the country,” the newly appointed Prime Minister declared in a social media message.
This measure comes just one day after the announcement of a reduction in energy taxes, effective from October, the first step taken by his government to improve the financial situation of British families.
For his part, Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey explained that this maximum cap will be set at two pounds for the UK public transport system and will remain in force until the end of 2027. “It reduces fares by a third for millions of people,” he stated. “This is how we begin to build a new economy, create new hope, and advance the working class across the country,” he emphasized.”
Burnham arrived at Downing Street with the firm intention of changing the political and economic model of the last 40 years in the United Kingdom, emphasizing how the system has left many citizens and regions behind. On his first day in office, he spoke of correcting the “wrong paths” taken in the 1980s, referring to the era of Margaret Thatcher, when “politics was centralized, the economy privatized, and large areas of the country deindustrialized”.
With the aim of improving the economic conditions of ordinary citizens, the former Mayor of Greater Manchester has promised a plan by the end of the year that will kickstart a new model for the United Kingdom for the next decade. Burnham took over the government the day before yesterday, following Keir Starmer’s resignation, caused by an internal leadership crisis, promising to end the political crisis that has gripped the country since the Brexit referendum ten years ago.
