John Healey has confirmed that tens of millions of households will no longer pay standing charges on their gas bills, ahead of his first Budget.The Chancellor will announce today an end to the “unfair and outdated practice” for Britons. He will ask Ofgem to deliver removal of these charges, which are £108 a year for the typical household on average, in 2027 or “as soon as possible after”.Instead, Britons will pay a fixed cost on the unit rate, which could save 60 per cent of Britons an average of £45 off their annual bill.Mr Healey said of the move: “Gas standing charges are unfair and outdated so I am scrapping them to give millions of households a bit of breathing space.”My Budget will draw a line in the sand on an energy policy that has failed British billpayers for years, letting extra costs on bills pile high and leaving households even more exposed to global shocks.”The Government hopes the Budget will “draw a line in the sand” on UK energy policy that has seen “wrong turns taken for over four decades”. The Prime Minister has previously spoken about reforming a broken energy market, so it better serves the public interest, rather than piling costs to bills and leaving British households even more exposed in an uncertain world.Andy Burnham said: “Abolishing gas standing charges is about basic fairness and giving people more control over their bills.”I am determined to reform our broken energy market, so it better serves the public interest.”FOLLOW BELOW FOR LIVE UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY…