The budget promised breathing space. But is it enough to get us out of the pickle we're in?

I’ve been thinking a lot about electrolytes. I know, there’s a lot going on in the world, from American mid-terms to Celebrity Traitors. But here I am thinking about electrolytes.

I recently ran a marathon. It wasn’t my first but it was my first for a long time. This time I was determined it would be an enjoyable experience rather than a gruelling mental and physical ordeal.

That meant fuelling appropriately. In one past marathon, I was delirious at the finish, looking pale and feeling confused. I had failed to replace the essential minerals lost through sweat, like sodium.

This marathon went well but the Garmin app told me I lost an estimated 1.1 litres of sweat while I ran. 

Alongside water and running gels in the race, I popped an electrolyte tablet in a drink in my bag and gulped it down once I’d finished.

There are (slightly) more natural ways to get electrolytes into your system.

Drinking pickle juice can be good to give you a dose of sodium to replenish and rehydrate. If you can stomach it. That’s why some people swear by pickle juice as a hangover cure too.

Ahead of the budget, chancellor John Healey unveiled a number of “everyday fixes”. That included tariff cuts for food items: baked beans were on the list alongside garlic, citrus jams, marmalades and pastes and lots more.

It was a 12% tariff cut on the gherkins that caught my eye. Time to stock up!

The announcement was the next step in the government’s “breathing space” approach to make small savings that add up.

The Treasury reckoned the cuts would save a household around £21 a year. Or around 40p a week. Not a huge amount, but something.

Andy Burnham said: “We are taking on the big challenges facing the country. But that doesn’t mean losing sight of the everyday problems that cost people money or simply aren’t fair.” 

Clearly, as a runner himself, Burnham has been guzzling pickle juice to aid his recovery and focus for the day job. The SNP response took a dim view: “Andy Burnham promised that he would end 40 years of neoliberalism – now all he wants to do is save 40p a week on gherkins.”

Obviously, as the prime minister admits, lots more will be needed to support struggling households. The autumn budget provided some measures, including a £100 energy bill payment going directly to bank accounts to help with energy bill rises in January.

Read more:

• Autumn budget 2026: Keeping housing benefit freeze ‘puts rough sleeping promise at risk’
• Gherkins, Dolly Parton and £100 off energy bills: What does the autumn budget mean for you?
• What are Andy Burnham’s cost of living plans and what will they mean for you?

But the “breathing space” approach brings to mind the marginal gains theory, popularised by Sir Dave Brailsford and Team Sky in professional cycling.

It’s the idea of building in tiny incremental improvements that add up to create a big difference.

Brailsford sometimes took it to extremes, giving the example of paying attention to how you clean your hands to minimise illness to the BBC in 2012.

It’s something I think about a lot: always doing one more rep in the gym, shaving a few seconds off my mile time when I run, making showering and eating breakfast in the morning more efficient.

Now the government seems to be taking a similar approach to the cost of living, chipping away here and there.

Will it be enough with the large systemic issues driving up the cost of living – from war in Iran to the AI boom and the climate crisis? Maybe not. On that front there is still a marathon ahead.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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