Downing Street was accused of making “reheated announcements” after it unveiled a series of corporate measures — many of them months or years old — aimed at helping households cope with the cost of living crisis.
David Buttress, former head of food delivery group Just Eat, was last month hired by outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson to find ways to ease the cost of living.
Buttress on Thursday announced various discounts as part of a “Help for Households” campaign, saying the government had secured deals with companies including supermarket Asda and telecoms group Vodafone.
“These deals are designed to reduce costs at the checkout, help provide entertainment and ensure access to necessary services for families during the summer holidays and beyond,” he said.
Shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the “reheated announcements” showed a government that was running out of ideas. “It is farcical for the government to claim this sticking plaster is a solution to their cost of living crisis,” he added.
Downing Street admitted the final package was a mix of new initiatives and existing pledges, with Johnson conceding the campaign would not “solve the issue overnight” but was “another weapon in our arsenal as we fight . . . inflation”.
One senior retail industry figure said the campaign was more about highlighting existing deals than creating new ones. “The key word is ‘amplify’,” they said. “It’s not like retailers have suddenly woken up to the idea that they need to help their customers through the cost of living crisis.”
Alison Garnham, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, urged the government to do more to help families “stay afloat”, adding that it had “abandoned children and families to face a difficult summer with inadequate support”.
The deals include the extension of an Asda scheme that allows children aged 16 and under to buy a hot or cold meal for £1 in its cafés. Originally intended to run over the summer holidays, it will now continue until the end of the year.
Besides a similar meal promotion, rival J Sainsbury introduced a “feed your family for a fiver” campaign to promote budget-friendly meal ideas at the end of June.
Buttress also highlighted a “Kids Week” initiative enabling children to see West End theatre shows for free alongside full-paying adults, but this has run every year for the past 24 years.
Vodafone is promoting a mobile social tariff of £10 a month, although the product, Voxi, has existed since March.
The government underlined an initiative whereby Wm Morrison would provide a free meal for every child at in-store cafés when a parent bought an adult meal, but the retailer said this initiative was first announced about two weeks ago.
One business figure said the government had asked hospitality and retail companies to re-promote existing offers, given many could not afford to create new promotions.
Kate Nicholls, head of Hospitality UK, a trade body, struck a sceptical note, saying: “Businesses that could afford to do special offers to drive footfall into their businesses were doing that already.”
“This isn’t going to fundamentally change the big challenges that we’ve got in terms of cost of doing business and cost of living,” she added.
Emma Revie, boss of the food bank charity the Trussell Trust, said the announcement would “go some way” to helping families but added “it will do little for people who are already at breaking point”.
