Will Andy Burnham’s everyday fixes be enough to get the public on his side?

The prime minister’s money-saving policies are popular but they are yet to convince voters he can take on the big things It was last year that Martin Lewis, the money-saving guru, advised the government to find “100 small things that piss people off” and set about sorting them out. That approach has been adopted almost immediately by Andy Burnham since entering office, as he began his programme of “everyday fixes” to tackle problems that can be dealt with through minor policy tweaks. Labour strategists say the philosophy behind this is to show that Burnham notices the frustrations of people’s lives, and that he will be decisive about improving these issues. This started with scrapping VAT on electricity bills and capping bus fares. His latest policy assault is on garish signs on the high street and everything from excessive vape and betting shops to subscriptions that auto-renew without warning. It is applying to politics the “broken window” theory of crime that suggests clamping down on small-scale antisocial behaviour such as littering can help discourage more serious crime. As much as anything, Burnham’s moves against rip-off Britain should be a warning to comp