Rachel Reeves’ Spending Review promised big boosts for the NHS, defence, and housing – and said her spending plans were paid for by decisions made at the Autumn Budget.
Rachel Reeves finally delivered her long-anticipated plan to renew Britain with her Spending Review this week– and we asked Mirror readers what they thought it.
The Chancellor promised big boosts for the NHS, defence, and housing – and said her spending plans were paid for by decisions made at the Autumn Budget.
Standing at the despatch box in the House of Commons, the Chancellor pitched her plan as a blueprint for “Britain’s renewal” and took a swipe at years of “destructive” Tory austerity. She announced that departmental budgets will rise by 2.3% each year in real terms, with hefty sums heading to the NHS, defence, and housing.
In parliament, Ms Reeves batted away claims she would raise taxes and said her spending plans were paid for by decisions made at the Autumn Budget. She repeated her pledge not to raise taxes on working people.
But a think tank claims tax rises could be likely in the autumn. The Resolution Foundation reported the big rise in public spending has been largely paid for by £39.7 billion in tax increases (set for 2028-29) announced in last Autumn’s Budget, along with £3.6 billion in benefit cuts (also in 2028-29) revealed in the Spring Statement – which works out to about £1,550 for every family in Britain.
“But the combination of a weaker economic outlook, an unfunded spending commitment on winter fuel payments, and just £9.9 billion of headroom against the chancellor’s fiscal rules, mean further tax rises are likely to be needed this autumn,” it says.
We asked Did Rachel Reeves get her Spending Review right? Just 908 of you felt she did, while a whopping 1,982 said she didn’t.
Many of you responded to our original story, here’s just a slice of what some of you had to say:
Joeyd said: “Margaret Thatcher’s Reagonomics caused the global economic crash. She sold off Britain to foreign countries for a pittance, wrecked mining, shipbuilding and steel towns across Britain, sold off council housing and put all our money into banking. When the banks collapsed, the country collapsed with them. The Conservative Government introduced 14 years of failed austerity making the rich even richer, and the poorest even poorer. Someone has to reverse decades of neglect, we’ll have to wait and see if they carry through with the infrastructure plans she’s promising.”
Seccmjfl01: “It might not be perfect but at least she’s trying and making an effort. Things take time and she needed some stability. Good luck to her.”
However, others were concerned about how it was going to be funded.
Martinsopinion posted: “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to pay more council tax for less services. I wonder what other ways they will find to tax us? Maybe spending money on poorly connected urban sprawl to maybe help a few, when the country needs a new city full of six-storey buildings. The policies are so misguided.”
Reeves is pledging an extra £29 billion a year for the NHS – a real-terms boost of around 3% annually. And on housing, she laid out a massive £39 billion package to build hundreds of thousands of affordable homes over the next decade. It’s being called the “biggest cash injection” in 50 years and is part of the drive to get 1.5 million new homes built by 2029.
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.”
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