UK PM Burnham promises business help within 'difficult' financial outlook - BBC

By Andy Bruce

MANCHESTER, England, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Britain's government will do what it can to help lower costs for business but against the backdrop of a "difficult financial outlook", Prime Minister Andy Burnham said in an interview on Wednesday.

Speaking to BBC Radio's 'Wake Up to Money' programme, Burnham said his government's budget, due on October 28, would look at business rates — a tax levied on shops, offices and other commercial premises — more broadly.

He also said he was looking at remodelling Britain's rail fares system to benefit the public, and repeated his long-term goal of increasing state control over water, energy and housing services as a way of lowering costs to households.

"I know the cost of doing business is too high, particularly for smaller businesses and I wouldn't want to promise the earth and say all can be solved because I think people can see I'm facing a difficult financial outlook and I won't bring forward things that I can't fully fund," Burnham said.

"I'm signalling going further on business rates. So there are things that we can do, and we'll do everything that is possible for us to do. But I think everyone knows that I'm in a position with limited room for manoeuvre."

Recent opinion polls show Burnham has fared well in the eyes of voters in his first few weeks in the job, which have been marked by relatively small but electorally popular reforms.

They include a crackdown on high street vape shops, capping bus fares, cutting sales tax on electricity bills, lowering business rates on pubs and music venues, and curbing misleading product discounts and subscription traps.

Burnham said this strategy — an "accumulation of smaller things" — could add up to help ease pressure on household finances.

He has previously ruled out tax increases on working people but has not ruled out other tax hikes to enact reforms to social care. He and his finance minister, John Healey, have promised to stick to the government's fiscal rules, limiting the scope for additional borrowing.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Muvija M)