# Andy Burnham announces new £2 bus fare cap across England

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/andy-burnham-announces-new-2-bus-fare-cap-across-england/
- Published: 2026-07-22T08:58:31+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-22T09:03:44+00:00
- Original publisher: The Independent (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/andy-burnham-cabinet-bus-fares-b3019216.html
- Topics: Americas, Government, Politics, UK, World

## Key points

- Bus fares in England capped at £2 from January 2027
- Part of new PM's wider cost-of-living policy push
- Funded by £454m, partly from redirected climate finance

## Summary

Andy Burnham has announced that most single bus fares in England will be capped at £2 from January, part of a broader package of measures aimed at easing the cost of living under the new prime minister. The move lowers the current £3 nationwide cap and reverses an increase introduced by Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves in 2024, though some areas such as London and Greater Manchester had already maintained a £2 limit locally.

The cap will run throughout 2027 and is backed by £454m of funding, with £400m coming from switching international climate finance from grants to loans and the remainder from savings in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero budget; the total scheme cost is expected to exceed £500m. Chancellor John Healey said "millions of people" would benefit from fares cut by a third at no cost to taxpayers, while Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said it would make journeys "easier and cheaper". The announcement follows an £850m VAT cut on electricity bills unveiled a day earlier, a policy that has sparked a funding row after former minister Darren Jones said it was unfunded, which Downing Street disputes.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.