Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he will “put a pause” on the plan for the early release of prisoners that was due to start in September.

Andy Burnham has described his plans to slash VAT for pubs as a “first step” after being pressed why he did not go further and introduce a wider tax cut which would include other businesses like cafes and restaurants.

He said: “This is a first step today, but it’s an important step. I made this commitment in the Makerfield by-election because we’re losing pubs. Pubs need to know that the cavalry is coming.

“You know, this is to me our heritage. It’s working class culture. Once pubs are gone, they don’t come back. So we’ve just got to signal what support when we can. That’s why I’ve made this early announcement. This is a significant cut to the business rates that pubs and other venues pay.

“It could make the difference for a number of venues that are struggling, and it was right to confirm it quickly because, as I say, so much good happens bringing communities together, and when these places have gone they don’t come back, and we can’t afford to lose any more.”

Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Chancellor John Healey visited an Essex pub after announcing that business rates will be slashed by 20%.

Labour defended Andy Burnham’s first actions as Prime Minister after Kemi Badenoch’s attack.

A party spokesperson said: “Andy Burnham is bringing back hope after Kemi Badenoch’s Tory Party nearly broke Britain. More of the same failed Tory politics that let people down for years is a recipe for disaster and will only hold Britain back.

“In just his first days as PM, Andy Burnham has taken immediate action to give families breathing space to help with the cost of living, by cutting tax on electricity bills and capping bus fares at £2, as well as slashing business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues. But this is just the start. The economy-crashing Tories haven’t got a clue.”

Andy Burnham’s new Cabinet is “terrifying” for its lack of private sector experience, Kemi Badenoch has said.

The Tory leader said: “They are all equally terrifying, and they are terrifying because I think apart from one or two people, everyone in Andy Burnham’s Cabinet has come from a charity, third sector, trade union, or worked for a Labour MP background.

“These are not the people that are going to turn the country around.

“You need a much broader spectrum of people.”

Gary Lineker is “very welcome to pay more tax”, Kemi Badenoch has said.

Asked about a call by the former footballer and 120 UK-based millionaires for Andy Burnham to impose higher taxes on their wealth, the Tory leader said: “on Gary Lineker, he’s very welcome to pay more tax. He can write a cheque to the Treasury. No one’s stopping him.

“But right now, we are seeing the people who create jobs leaving the country…

“If we keep taxing the people who create the jobs, who generate the growth, we’re not going to have any taxes at all.”

She added that tax rises and “pennies here and there” do not increase our standard of living, and that the focus should be on “backing business so that they can create jobs and create growth”.

Kemi Badenoch said “I’m always ready for an election” and insisted the Tories have a plan for both a ballot and for government.

Kemi Badenoch called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to get “serious” about cross-party work as she criticised his lack of response to her letter on defence spending.

Taking questions after her speech, she said: “We’re very willing to work cross-party to tackle the big issues, but they need to be serious about that.

“What I’m not going to do is just write him a blank cheque to do whatever he wants. We need to agree on the things that need dealing with. We need to fund defence. We need to cut welfare. If Andy Burnham doesn’t want to do those things, then I don’t think he’s serious about working cross-party.

“I’ve written him a letter offering to work cross-party. As I said in my speech, he hasn’t replied to the letter, although he has replied to the tweets and he’s done lots of memes and jokes. But I think it’s time for him to start getting serious.”

Kemi Badenoch ended her speech by saying: “Britain does not need a Prime Minister with small answers to big problems.

“It needs a government that looks forwards not backwards, a government that understands the scale of the challenge.”

Kemi Badenoch accused Andy Burnham of “behaving like he is still the Mayor of Manchester”.

The Conservative leader added: “He is now the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, he needs to start acting like it.

“When you are the Mayor of Manchester you are handed a big pot of someone else’s money and you decide where to spend it. I’m sure this is great fun, it can make you very popular but it is not the same as being Prime Minister.

“A Mayor doesn’t have to fund the Army, a Prime Minister does.”

Kemi Badenoch said Andy Burnham “needs to rule out tax rises to pay for his spending spree”.

She added: “Rachel Reeves raised taxes and we saw what happened after that. Employers stopped hiring and jobs were lost.

“Andy Burnham will repeat Rachel Reeves’s mistakes if he raises taxes again.”

Kemi Badenoch urged Andy Burnham to lay out how he will pay for his announcements on teh cost of living.

She said: “Big problems need bigger, long-term solutions. Bus fares are expensive because fuel is expensive, energy is expensive, employment is expensive, regulation is expensive. Government has made nearly everything more expensive.

“But Andy Burnham’s answer is to cap one price and send the bill somewhere else. But somewhere else is always someone else. A taxpayer, a business, a family, someone will pay and they will pay in higher taxes.

“Andy Burnham needs to tell us who will pay those taxes. And if he won’t, we should assume it will be the same people Labour always turns to when the sums do not add up.

“Working people. Small businesses. The people who get up early, take risks, hire staff and try to build something.”

Kemi Badenoch warned that Andy Burnham’s ambitions for the country are “too small”.

The Conservative leader said: “Britain is one of the largest economies in the world.

“There is war in Europe and the Middle East. Hostile states are attacking our critical infrastructure. China and America are racing ahead in artificial intelligence, energy and space.

“We have a demographic challenge to solve, a border crisis requiring tough choices.

“And our new Prime Minister’s big ideas are £2 bus fares and £45 off energy bills when the average bill is nearly £2,000 and that will only last for six months anyway.

“Don’t get me wrong, cost-of-living pressures are real. But the problems go way beyond bus fares and VAT on bills.

“Families are struggling. Young people are wondering whether they will ever earn enough to buy a home, some are leaving the country in search of a better future.

“Businesses are closing. People are working harder but feeling poorer.

“I am sorry but going by what he’s announced so far, Andy Burnham’s ambitions for Britain are too small.”

Kemi Badenoch began her speech by saying: “Andy Burnham seems like a nice guy. I’ve enjoyed his dodgy dancing and even the shocking revelation that he puts the milk first in his tea. I’m glad he has a sense of humour. It’s needed in his job.

“But when I look at the plans he has announced for the country, I find myself asking: is that it?”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch will call on Andy Burnham to “rule out tax rises to pay for his spending spree” in a speech at 10.30am.

She will set out her response to the new Prime Minister’s cost-of-living policy blitz in an address in central London.

Allen Simpson, Chief Executive of UKHospitality, said the business rates cut for pubs was a “welcome first step”.

He added: “The Prime Minister is right to say this should be just the start. Restaurants are struggling just as much as pubs, while hotels are due to see their business rates bills increase by an average of 110%, the highest in the sector.

“After years of rising costs and tax increases that have hit investment and employment, the industry now needs a meaningful, sector-wide solution. While today’s announcement will provide welcome support for pubs, clubs and live music venues, they only account for around a fifth of hospitality jobs. The rest of the sector now needs to see the same ambition.

“We look forward to working with the Government at the forthcoming Budget to deliver the wider business rates reform it has promised and create a fairer system that enables businesses to invest, create jobs and grow.”

Some pub owners have cast doubts on Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s 20% cut to business rates.

Steve Perez, who owns two hotels, both including a pub and a restaurant, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Our business rates went up to about 130% (in April).

“So this tiny, well, obviously it’s welcome £1,000, but this won’t make any material difference to any pub.”

Iain Hoskins, owner of Ma Pub Group in Liverpool, said that when a 15% cut was announced last year, only one of his five venues qualified “because they didn’t have the word pub in their name”.

He added: “They were a cafe bar, which was a posh pub, but they were a pub, you know, nonetheless.”

Labour is two points behind Reform UK in the latest poll by More in Common, with the parties on 24% and 26% respectively.

The Conservatives are third on 22%.

Tory shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said: “Whilst any support for Britain’s hard-pressed businesses is welcome, once again this Government has been found wanting on both the detail and funding for this policy.

“We are days into the Burnham premiership and as yet the Government has not been able to credibly explain how it will fund any one of its ‘new’ policies.

“That undoubtedly means more Labour tax rises that families and businesses across the country cannot afford.

“Only the Conservatives have a fully funded plan, backed by a £47 billion savings plan, to abolish business rates entirely for the vast majority of high street businesses.”

Tory deputy chairman Matt Vickers branded Andy Burnham’s business rates cut for pubs as “the third unfunded spending commitment in three days”.

He told GB News: “When this Government came to office, this Labour Government, those businesses, all leisure, hospitality, and retail businesses, on the high streets, those small businesses, were getting a 75% reduction in their business rates.

“They took away the 75% and now he’s telling them he’s giving them 20% back, and he doesn’t know how he’s going to pay for it.

“It’s pitiful. We need to be realistic in how we support these businesses.”

Temporary business rate discounts were in place for a few years from 2020/21, to help retail properties recover from the Covid pandemic.

John Healey has vowed to back UK businesses that have “felt really squeezed”.

Addressing business leaders in central London, the Chancellor said: “My message to British businesses is quite simple: to British businesses, to British innovators, to British investors: I will back you as your Chancellor, and I’ll back you in financial services, in technology, in retail, in industry, in all parts of the economy.”

Like households, firms have been feeling a “lack of a breathing space,” he said.

“I’m just as concerned about the cost of business as I am about the cost of living.”

The Liberal Democrats said Andy Burnham’s 20% cut in business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues in England was ” awelcome first step but still falls short of Labour’s promise to overhaul the broken business rates system which penalises high street businesses whilst letting off Amazon warehouses”.

The party’s deputy leader and Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper added: “High street businesses up and down the country will also continue to be hit by the jobs tax – leaving thousands of hospitality businesses still in serious trouble, and leaving young people without those valuable first job opportunities.

“We Liberal Democrats urge the new Prime Minister to take up our plan to Save our High Streets, which includes an overhaul of business rates, removing ‘ghost landlords’ and rejuvenating town centres.”

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds said Gary Lineker and other UK-based millionaires can voluntarily increase the amount they pay into public coffers after they called for a wealth tax.

Speaking on the broadcast round, she said: “Well, look, it’s day four of this new government, and obviously any major tax changes would be announced at a budget.

“I welcome the fact that people of good means are saying that they want to pay more. They can pay more.

“There is a link on gov.uk, but look, we have to look at tax policy in the round, and we only make major tax announcements at budgets.”

Gary Lineker is among 120 UK-based millionaires calling on Andy Burnham to impose higher taxes on their wealth in an open letter.

The “Proud to Pay” letter to the Prime Minister, organised by the Patriotic Millionaires UK campaign group, claims the money raised from higher taxes on wealth could be used to reduce inequality, support public infrastructure, and back small businesses.

It reads: “We want you to tax us. We can afford it. We’re not talking about higher taxes on those who get up and go to work for their income every day, but on the very richest whose income is derived from the wealth they hold.”

The football pundit added: “Paying your fair share is a basic British value, but so many ordinary people are already paying more than they can afford.

“Our richest people can do more and most want to. Our fantastic country deserves all of us to get behind it.”

Former defence minister Al Carns has a refused a role in Andy Burnham’s government as he warned the military funding issue is not “settled”.

The veteran quit his role under Sir Keir Starmer in a row over defence spending.

Andy Burnham will meet the leaders of Scotland and Wales for the first time since becoming Prime Minister when he travels to Glasgow today.

It comes after Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who was one of the first to call for Sir Keir Starmer to go, was made a lord and minister in the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.

First Minister of Scotland John Swinney hit out at the “hypocrisy” of the expected appointment earlier on Wednesday.

Commenting on slashing business rates for pubs, Andy Burnham said: “This government will back the businesses that people want to see in their communities.

“I said I would protect pubs and local high streets – the beating heart of our communities – and that’s what we will do. What we’re announcing today is just the start as we work to bring back hope across the country.”

Business rates will be cut by 20% for pubs, clubs and live music venues across England from April next year, Downing Street has announced.

The discount will apply to nearly 32,000 hospitality businesses and is expected to save a typical pub some £1,100 annually, but will not be available to the very largest live music venues.

The overhaul of business rates will be funded through a review of reliefs for businesses that “do not make a positive contribution to local communities” such as vape shops and a crackdown on online marketplaces that do not comply with tax obligations, No 10 said.

It is part of a bid by new PM Andy Burnham to cut costs for the public and communities, which has seen him announce plans to remove VAT from electricity bills and reinstate a £2 cap on single bus fares across England.