Spending Review: Key takeaways and the Tory responsepublished at 15:00 British Summer Time 11 June
Spending Review: Where key money is being spent… in 99 secs
Following that flurry of cross-party reaction, let’s take a step back and remind ourselves what Chancellor Rachel Reeves actually announced in her Spending Review today.
NHS: The day-to-day budget for the health service in England will go up by 3% over the next three years – more than was expected – reaching £226bn by 2029.
Housing: It was confirmed that £39bn will be allocated to building social and affordable housing in England between 2026 and 2036 – that’s an average of £3.9bn a year.
Defence: The Ministry of Defence’s day-to-day budget will go up 0.7% in real terms, with investment spending over the period averaging 7.3%. (We already knew that defence spending is due to rise from 2.3% to 2.5% of overall economic output by 2027.)
Asylum hotels: The government said it will end the use of hotels to temporarily house asylum seekers before the next election – this was in Labour’s manifesto.
Education: The core schools budget in England will increase by 0.4% in real terms on average over the next three years, reaching £69.5bn by 2029. It was also confirmed that free school meals will be extended to around 500,000 more children whose parents are receiving benefits.
Transport: £15.6bn will be allocated between 2027 and 2031 for transport projects in English city regions outside London, plus the £3 cap on single bus fares in England will be extended until March 2027.
Energy: An additional £11.5bn will go towards the cost of building the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk, which will also require private investment.
And here’s a flavour of what the Conservatives said in response:
- Shadow chancellor Mel Stride said his party would’ve made different choices and focused on improving “efficiency in the public sector”, and “getting a grip on welfare”
- He described Reeves as “the chancellor who refuses to listen”, and said it’s “working people and businesses who will pay the price” at her next Budget – at which he said it’s “inevitable” that new tax rises would be announced