00:00Well, we have tried to give households some breathing space through the
00:04announcements that Andy Burnham made shortly after he became Prime Minister.
00:08Not only VAT on electricity, but two pound cap on bus fares, help for small
00:13businesses with business rates. We will do more where we can, but of course we
00:19know the public finances are constrained. Economic stability is the foundation for
00:25everything. People wouldn't expect us to take reckless risks with the public
00:29finances. We saw what happened with that a few years ago. We don't want to repeat
00:34that mistake and we know that households are under pressure and these rises in
00:39energy prices are happening because of events outside the UK in the Middle East
00:44but every country is affected and the public should know we will help them
00:49where we can, but it all has to be done on the basis of sustainable public finances.
