Reeves’ straitjacket: Why Britain’s spending problem is political, not economic June 11, 2025 Public spending should not be held hostage to the OBR’s latest spreadsheet projections, as if the future of school funding hangs on whether GDP is revised up by 0.1 per cent. Our leaders should acknowledge that fiscal headroom is a political choice, says Dimitri Zenghelis The UK government is right to focus on investment and [...]
Spending Review: Reeves piles billions into tech as firms cool on UK June 11, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves bet heavy on tech and innovation in her maiden Spending Review, in a week that saw a trio of tech firms depart from the London Stock Exchange. Reeves hiked research and development funding to a record high of £22.6bn per year by the end of the Spending Review period. She doubled down [...]
Spending Review: Whitehall faces axe to fund Reeves’ spending spree June 11, 2025 Dramatic real terms cuts to departments such as the Home Office and the Department for Transport are to fund Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ multi-billion pound spending packages on the NHS and AI technology. Reeves told MPs on Wednesday afternoon that the government would spend taxpayers’ money with “care” as she said the government had been “relentless” [...]
Spending Review: Justice set for £7bn as Reeves calls for ‘necessary action’ to keep the country safe June 11, 2025 Treasury put aside £7bn to "support the justice system" as Rachel Reeves called out the Tories for leaving the prison system on the brink of collapse
Will Reeves’ spending review make UK housing more affordable? June 11, 2025 Rachel Reeves has made housebuilding a central feature of the government’s spending policy. The planning system has been reformed, money has been funnelled into skills and developing brownfield housing, and new towns have been announced. But this afternoon’s spending review has firmly set out the government’s commitments for the sector, and affordable regional housing is [...]
Spending Review: Reeves splashes cash across transport, healthcare and energy June 11, 2025 Rachel Reeves has insisted her fiscal rules are “non-negotiable” as the Chancellor splurged on transport, tech and energy investment in her Spending Review, paving the way for further tax hikes in the autumn. Reeves said she made “the choices necessary to fix the foundations of our economy” accusing the previous government of leaving a “£22bn [...]
Spending Review: Reeves promises UK will become defence ‘superpower’ June 11, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has pledged the UK will become a “defence industrial superpower” as she confirmed military spending would rise to 2.6 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product) by April 2027. Unveiling the government’s much-anticipated Spending Review, Reeves told the House of Commons: “A new era in the threats we face demands a new [...]
William Hill shortens odds on Pat McFadden replacing Rachel Reeves June 11, 2025 William Hill has slashed its odds on senior government minister Pat McFadden replacing Rachel Reeves as Chancellor – down from 5/1 to 2/1. McFadden is currently Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster – the most senior minister in the Cabinet Office – and is a close confidante of PM Sir Keir Starmer, playing a major [...]
FTSE 100 flirts with record high but falters once more June 11, 2025 The FTSE 100 once more narrowly missed on a record closing high on Wednesday after faltering in the final moments of the trading session. The UK’s flagship index edged up 0.13 per cent to 8864.35p. This brought it just short of March’s record close of 8871.31p. Housebuilders topped the morning risers with Persimmon and Barratt [...]
Reeves will aim for optimism but reality paints a different picture June 11, 2025 Sky’s Sophy Ridge is a thoughtful and formidable interviewer, as Treasury Minister James Murray discovered on Monday evening. The Labour MP, who seems a decent sort of chap, was doing his best to defend his government’s screeching and humiliating u-turn on cuts to winter fuel payments, claiming – in the words of the Prime Minister [...]