In his first days as prime minister, Andy Burnham presented his amuse-bouches(开胃小菜) to the British public. He announced that VAT(增值税), a consumption tax, would be cut on electricity bills from 5% to 0% from October. The cap on most bus fares would be slashed from £3 ($4) to £2 for all of 2027. From April, pubs and clubs in England will get a 20% business-rate cut. Mr Burnham’s portion sizes are meagre(份量很小): the electricity tax cut will save just £25 per household in this tax year, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a think-tank(智库).
上任首相的头几天，安迪·伯纳姆就向英国公众端出了他的“开胃小菜”。他宣布，从10月起，电费账单上的增值税（一种消费税）将从5%降至0%。大多数公交票价的上限将从3英镑（合4美元）降至2英镑，并持续整个2027年。从明年4月起，英格兰的酒吧和俱乐部将获得20%的商业税率减免。伯纳姆先生的“份量”很小：据智库财政研究所计算，本财年每户家庭因电费减税仅能节省25英镑。
These tasters(试吃品) show Mr Burnham’s strengths. He is a more political animal(政治动物) than Sir Keir Starmer, his predecessor, and understands that tackling the cost of living will be crucial for his success. Unfortunately, he has served up policies that resemble baked Camemberts(烤卡门贝尔奶酪): they have lots of fatty calories and are liable to cause indigestion(容易引起消化不良) later on.
这些“试吃品”展现了伯纳姆的优势。他比前任基尔·斯塔默爵士更懂政治，明白解决生活成本问题对他的成功至关重要。不幸的是，他端出的政策就像烤卡门贝尔奶酪：富含高热量脂肪，日后很容易引起消化不良。
The calorie count(热量计数) is large and growing. Cutting electricity bills costs £850m this tax year alone. Mr Burnham says he will fund it by scrapping(废除) Sir Keir’s scheme to introduce digital IDs. But that policy was unfunded, so in reality he will need to find the cash elsewhere. It will be hard to ransack(洗劫) energy budgets, as he has already raided them for £454m to help fund the bus-fare cuts. These early decisions reflect Mr Burnham’s big-spending instincts(大手大脚的本能). If he is not careful, the state’s waistline could balloon(膨胀).
热量很高，而且还在增加。仅本财年，削减电费就要花费8.5亿英镑。伯纳姆表示，他将通过废除基尔爵士推行数字身份证的计划来为此提供资金。但该计划本身就没有资金来源，所以实际上他需要从别处找钱。想从能源预算中搜刮资金很难，因为他已经从中挪用了4.54亿英镑来资助公交票价削减。这些早期决策反映了伯纳姆大手大脚的本能。如果他不小心，国家的“腰围”可能会膨胀。