Chancellor Rachel Reeves laid out her highly-anticipated Spending Review today in the House of Commons, where she vowed to ‘renew Britain’ – and we want to hear your thoughts
Rachel Reeves delivered her long-awaited Spending Review today, where she outlined funding for individual government departments – and we want to know if you think the Chancellor got it right.
Taking to the despatch box in the House of Commons, Reeves explained that her proposal is focused on “Britain’s renewal”, as she hit out at the “destructive” Tory austerity. She told the chamber that total departmental budgets will grow by 2.3% per year in real terms, with multi-billion pound boosts for the NHS, defence and housing.
Among her major announcements, Reeves promised an extra £29bn a year will be spent on the NHS, which she said represents a rise in real-terms of around 3% each year. The Chancellor also said hundreds of thousands of new affordable homes will be built over the next decade under a £39billion package announced today – in what she described as the “biggest cash injection” in 50 years. It also forms part of the pledge to build 1.5million new homes by 2029, in a bid to tackle the country’s housing crisis.
Following details of the winter fuel U-turn earlier this week, Reeves confirmed plans to restore the payments to millions of pensioners. OAPs with an income of £35,000 or below in England and Wales will receive the benefit this winter. It is a major uplift from the current £11,500 cut-off point announced last summer.
In an “age of insecurity” the Chancellor said defence spending will rise to 2.6% of GDP by 2027. She said the figure includes spending on intelligence agencies. “We will make Britain a defence industrial superpower,” Ms Reeves vowed.
The Mirror understands schools will also get a major boost to per pupil funding, with £4.5billion extra for the core schools budget. This includes a major expansion of free school meals to 500,000 more pupils.
Some £15.6billion will also be handed to mayors for major transport projects across the country. This will go towards plans to improve trams, trains and buses in the North and the Midlands. Other announcements include ending the “costly” use of hotels to house asylum seekers, £3 cap on single bus tickets, and over £14billion worth of investment will go towards building the Sizewell C nuclear power plant on the Suffolk coast.
Keir Starmer told the Cabinet that the Spending Review: “Marks the end of the first phase of this Government, as we move to a new phase that delivers on the promise of change for working people all around the country and invests in Britain’s renewal.”
However, Tory Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride slammed the announcement, as he fumed: “This spending review is not worth the paper it is written on.” He goes on to claim Ms Reeves has “completely lost control” and warns of tax rises to come in the autumn.
Following today’s Spending Review, we want to know if you think Reeves got it right. Vote in our poll HERE to have your say.
The Mirror will also be discussing the topic with you in the comments section below and you can join in! All you have to do is sign up, submit your comment, register your details and then you can take part.
