Around 20 million households will be targeted for the energy payment “directly into people’s bank accounts to deal with rising energy bills,” Healey said. The scheme comes with a £2.6 billion price tag — and will arrive against a grim backdrop. Annual household energy bills are expected to rise by around £450 in January because of higher global gas prices.

Since coming to power as a self-styled “cost-of-living government” earlier this year, Burnham and Healey have tried to offer a raft of targeted, small-scale policy interventions to show that the government has a grip on rising costs — without spooking the financial markets.

Analysis of the budget by the U.K.’s Office for Budget Responsibility watchdog on Wednesday laid bare the scale of that challenge.

The OBR expects continued “weak growth” in living standards — with real household disposable income for Brits expected to be just 1 percent higher by the end of this decade than it was in 2020.

The watchdog’s David Miles told journalists at a briefing in London that a series of shocks — including Brexit, Covid, and the war in Iran — had led to a “dismal period in British economic history.”

Banks raided

Other measures unveiled by Healey Wednesday include the scrapping of standing charges on Brits’ gas bills, a hike in the minimum wage and a new tax-free allowance for poorer pensioners.