Burnham targets subscription traps and fake sales in cost-of-living push

The Prime Minister has launched a cost-of-living tour promising to crack down on subscription services that make cancellation difficult and retailers advertising sales that aren't genuine price reductions.

The Guardian carries Burnham writing in his own words about "subscriptions you can't easily cancel" and "sales that aren't sales", pledging to "end the rip-offs that British people hate". The Sun describes the measures as a "reheated Labour pledge", while the Express reports Burnham "declaring war on 'fake' sales that rip off shoppers". The Independent frames it as a "cost-of-living crackdown" focused on "rip-off subscriptions".

The subscription trap is older than streaming services - gyms and newspapers wrote the playbook decades before anyone had heard of Netflix. What is new is the scale: automatic renewals are now the default position, and the exit door is deliberately obscured. The fake sale has an even longer pedigree - the "was £X, now £Y" where the higher price existed for twenty minutes three months ago. Both practices rely on friction: the gap between what the customer thinks they agreed to and what the terms actually say.

The real test is enforcement. Consumer protection laws already exist; the Competition and Markets Authority already has powers. The question isn't whether new rules will be written but whether existing ones will be used, and whether a government three months in is willing to take on the subscription economy that now underpins half the retail sector.

Watch for whether the proposals include penalties substantial enough to change behaviour, and whether the enforcement budget follows the rhetoric. The gap between announcing a crackdown and actually cracking down is where most consumer protection promises die.