Breathing space now, hope for the future | Burnley MP Oliver Ryan column

Last week, the Chancellor delivered the Budget. I know Budgets can be full of economic jargon, and what most people want to know is will it make life a bit easier. I've been looking through it in detail, so here's what matters for Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield.

Let's start with bills, because I know how much they've been weighing on people. Whether it's the weekly shop, filling up the car or heating the house, things have been tough.

From January, households in council tax Bands A to D will receive a £100 Household Energy Payment, paid directly into their bank accounts. That's around 46,730 households locally, almost everyone.

There's also 0% VAT on household electricity until July, expected to knock around £50 off the price cap in April, alongside scrapping standing charges to bring bills down even further.

I've written before about fuel prices, so I was pleased to see the 5p fuel duty cut extended until July 2027. The £2 bus fare cap will continue throughout 2027 too for those relying on public transport.

There's good news for wages too. From April, the National Living Wage rises to £13.21 an hour, worth an extra £910 a year for someone working full-time. In a town like ours, where people work incredibly hard without always having much left over, that matters. We don't win in a race to the bottom on wages and we shouldn't try.

Our high streets are getting a proper boost. Around 218 shops, pubs, cafés and other high street premises locally will have their business rates frozen in real terms for two years from April, and more of our smallest shops won’t pay ANY business rates at all, as the valuation threshold rises to £18,000. The beating heart of our communities, our pubs and social clubs, are getting 35% off their business rates from April, worth over £3,000 on average for a pub next year.

Plus £1 Million each for Burnley Council and Pendle Council in Derelict Building Funding to kick-start regeneration on our old industrial sites.

Burnley is a town that makes things, with around one in seven working people employed in manufacturing. When I visit local firms, energy costs come up time and again, so the announcement of up to 25% off electricity bills for eligible manufacturers will make a big difference.

For younger people, there's new support to get 18 to 24-year-olds into work, incentives for employers taking on apprentices, and a scheme to help first-time buyers onto the housing ladder with just a 2.5% deposit.

For pensioners whose income is no more than the full new State Pension, tax thresholds will rise to ensure they won’t be dragged into paying income tax by pension rises this Parliament.

Four local schools are also getting funding for breakfast clubs: Pendle Primary Academy, Padiham St Leonard's, Burnley St Stephen's and Rosewood Primary.

And Lancashire is moving closer to having its own Mayor, eventually devolving power over some Business Rates, Income Taxes, transport funding, skills, housing, development and infrastructure funding to us here locally. I’ve been calling for a Lancashire Mayor since my election, so this is long overdue for me.

Economic signs are all saying the right things too: we're reducing our deficit faster than any G20 country, interest rates are down, productivity is up, business investment is up, growth is up, public debt is down, and people are fundamentally better off than they were in 2024. But I know the real test is whether life is getting better for people here at home.

I'm not pretending one Budget fixes everything. I know people are still struggling, and there's more to do. But these changes should give families and businesses some breathing space, and I'll keep fighting for us to go further.

Lastly, Remembrance Sunday is this Sunday.

I'll be attending Burnley Memorial, watching the procession and laying my wreath, and I have representatives laying wreaths on my behalf at 6 more local memorials at the same time on Sunday.

We will remember them,