Prime Minister Andy Burnham is facing pressure over Labour’s promise to cut household energy bills by £300 as he begins what Downing Street has described as a cost of living listening tour.

The SNP has seized on the tour to argue that the new Prime Minister should begin by addressing promises made by Labour at the last election which it says have not been delivered.

Energy costs are at the centre of the attack, with the party pointing to Labour’s election commitment to reduce household bills by £300.

Burnham has already announced the removal of VAT from domestic electricity bills from October, but the SNP argues the saving for an average household amounts to only around £3 a month.

The party also claims energy bills this October will be around £600 higher than the level Labour promised during the election campaign.

Its intervention comes as concerns continue over what could happen to energy prices during the coming winter and into next year.

Research from the Resolution Foundation has warned that the risk of another energy price spike in early 2027 remains real, against a backdrop of continuing instability in the Middle East and movements in global oil prices.

SNP Westminster Leader Dave Doogan MP said:

“If Andy Burnham is actually serious about listening, he should start by living up to all the promises the Labour Party made to the public during the last election and then rapidly broke when they got into Downing Street.

“The biggest broken promise of all from the Labour Party was to cut energy bills by £300, instead they are set to go up nearly £600.

“Concerns about heatwaves will soon turn to heating bills, the first test of Burnham’s listening skills will be to put right Keir Starmer’s broken promise to cut energy bills.

“People in Scotland don’t want to hear any more empty promises about ‘hope in their hearts’, they want money in their pockets.

“A listening tour for Tik tok content won’t pay the bills, putting proper money in people’s pockets will.

“Burnham has endlessly boasted about confronting the big issues, but he has completely ignored the biggest issue on the horizon for families this autumn.

“The Bank of England warned early this month that prices are set to rise again, energy bills will hit even harder and the public finances of Brexit Britain are broken.

“Andy Burnham should listen to those economic sirens that are ringing louder by the day and act to protect families ahead of this autumn and winter.”

The political argument will continue, but the practical test for households will be considerably simpler.

As summer gives way to autumn and heating starts going back on, people will judge the government’s cost of living response by what actually happens to the bills landing on their doormats.