UK Finance Minister Rachel Reeves unveiled a major spending review on Wednesday, focusing on health, defence, and infrastructure to drive economic growth and restore confidence in the Labour government’s vision.
In a key fiscal update, Finance Minister Rachel Reeves outlined the Labour government’s spending priorities through 2030, emphasising investments aimed at "working people" and long-term national prosperity. The review sets departmental budgets from 2026 to 2029 and includes significant funding boosts for housing, transport, and clean energy.
Reeves reaffirmed her October budget framework, which introduced the largest tax increases in a generation and loosened fiscal rules to allow more borrowing for investment. These measures, she argued, have created the economic stability necessary to expand public services funding by £190 billion over Conservative-era plans.
A central component of the announcement is a £39 billion, 10-year programme to build affordable housing, nearly doubling current annual spending. An additional £10 billion will go toward building new homes across England.
Despite these efforts, Reeves acknowledged limited room for day-to-day spending increases in other government areas due to prioritisation of defence and healthcare. Departmental budgets are projected to grow by 2.3% annually in real terms.
The spending review comes at a politically sensitive time. Labour's popularity has waned since its landslide victory last July, with criticism over cuts to winter fuel payments and disability benefits. Reeves’ tax policy—targeting employers while strengthening workers’ rights—has also drawn fire from Conservatives, who link it to the highest unemployment rate in nearly four years.
The government has since partially reversed the winter fuel cuts, but the right-wing Reform UK party, led by Nigel Farage, has gained ground, outperforming Labour in recent local elections.
"At the budget last October and again in the spring, I made the choices necessary to fix the foundations of our economy," she said. "We are starting to see the results."
Following the unveiling of the spending review, Chancellor Rachel Reeves assured the public that council tax rates will not rise as part of the government’s new fiscal plans.
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Saudi Aramco has ordered staff to evacuate its headquarters amid escalating Houthi attacks on the kingdom. Two people were killed in an attack on Dammam airport, while Iran's IRGC Navy claimed strikes on seven vessels and warned the U.S. of a wider response.
Russian strikes on Ukraine overnight killed at least two people and injured 15 others, including two children, Ukrainian authorities said. Meanwhile, Russia said it had intercepted the vast majority of 630 Ukrainian drones launched towards Moscow.
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Missile and drone attacks have put Saudi Arabia on high alert, disrupting life in Riyadh and testing a new defence pact with Türkiye and Pakistan as regional tensions escalate.
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German police have detained a suspect after a major fire broke out at the historic Kehlsteinhaus, known as the “Eagle’s Nest”, a mountain retreat once used by senior Nazi officials, including Adolf Hitler.
Typhoon Champi swept past Taiwan on Saturday, leaving one person dead and more than 500 injured as strong winds and torrential rain brought down trees, cut power and disrupted transport across the island.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday dismissed accusations that Canada planned to interfere in next month’s U.S. midterm elections, saying he was disappointed by comments from the American ambassador.
Kenya has recorded a second death from Ebola, the health ministry said late on Friday, as the outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to spread across Africa.
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