UK budget defers big decisions and offers modest relief
Chancellor John Healey presented the first budget of Prime Minister Andy Burnham's new government on Wednesday. Reports said it put off the biggest decisions and offered modest measures to help Britons and businesses with the cost-of-living squeeze.
Ahead of the budget, Healey said it would move "money and power out of Westminster and into every postcode around Britain". Reports said he planned to close a 4.7-billion-pound funding gap in the defence plan inherited from the previous Labour leader.
Healey also planned a crackdown on foreign online sellers who avoid VAT. Reports said this could raise as much as 1 billion pounds to help fund business rate cuts for high street shops. Extra funding of 1 billion pounds was also expected for social and affordable housing in England, within 39 billion pounds planned over the next decade.
Helen Miller of the Institute for Fiscal Studies said Healey faces a forecast in which borrowing is still expected to fall and the fiscal rules are still being met.
Burnham is expected to seek closer ties with the EU next month and to publish a 10-year strategy document in December. Other hard issues ahead include immigration, welfare reform and North Sea oil drilling.
Key facts
- Who
- John Healey (UK chancellor); Andy Burnham (Prime Minister); Jim Pickard (journalist who reports on the agenda); Martin Wolf (columnist who wrote an opinion piece on the government)
- What
- Ahead of the announcement, the article previews the expected measures: Healey's plan to close a 4.7-billion-pound defence funding gap, a crackdown on foreign online sellers avoiding VAT to fund business rate cuts, and extra housing funding. It reports the budget was expected to move money and power out of Westminster, as Healey said.
- When
- 29 October 2026
- Where
- United Kingdom, Downing Street, North Sea
- Status
- Reported