Labour targets subscription traps and fake discounts

"This Government is on the side of families working hard to make ends meet, while making sure the rules are clear for businesses and easy to follow," he said.

Few consumers will argue with efforts to make subscriptions easier to cancel or to ensure discounts are presented transparently. If implemented effectively, both measures could help some households avoid unnecessary costs and make better-informed purchasing decisions.

The announcement is bigger than the policy change itself. The subscription trap reforms were already in train under the DMCCA and have simply been brought forward by a matter of months. The proposed crackdown on misleading discounts remains at the consultation stage, and retail industry bodies argue that existing rules already require promotions to be genuine. Tom Ironside, the British Retail Consortium's director of business and regulation, said: "BRC members adhere to all rules and regulations on promotions, ensuring consumers benefit from genuine savings on the discounts offered."

Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride described the plans as "reheated" and said Burnham had already "run out of ideas."

At a time when household budgets are under sustained pressure from housing costs, energy bills and mounting everyday expenses, critics are likely to question whether measures focused on subscriptions and promotional pricing will make a significant difference to overall living standards. The government's longer-term challenge will be demonstrating it can deliver more substantive interventions capable of materially reducing the cost of living for millions of households.