logo
Minister says spending review will mark ‘end to austerity', as Home Office yet to agree deal

Minister says spending review will mark ‘end to austerity', as Home Office yet to agree deal

The Guardian2 days ago

Update:
Date: 2025-06-09T08:32:22.000Z
Title: Angela Rayner, the deputy PM and housing secretary, settled with the Treasury late last night.
Content: Good morning. In theory spending review negotiations can go up to the wire, with the final talks to resolve sticking points taking place late at night, only hours before the final decisions, and documents, are presented to MPs. In practice, it does not really happen like that now, last-minute haggling is no longer routine, and, with two days to go beofre the spending review that will settle government spending until 2019, only one cabinet minister has not yet settled.
Here are the key developments this morning on the issue that will dominate the week.
The news was broken by Arj Singh from the i, who reports:
The i Paper understands that Rayner and Reeves agreed a deal just after 7.30pm after marathon talks on Sunday.
But Home Office and Treasury sources were tight lipped on Sunday, in an indication that negotiations over police funding are also going to the wire.
That means Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, is the only minister yet to agree a spending settlement with the chancellor, Rachel Reeves. In the Times Chris Smyth says police budgets are expected to rise by more than inflation, but other parts of the Home Office budget may face cuts. He reports:
It is understood that Reeves has insisted that policing budgets will rise in each year of the spending review, which sets funding up to 2028-29. However, it remains unclear if the boost will match the more than £1 billion extra officers say is needed to cover existing shortfalls.
Cooper is also expected to have to find deeper cuts elsewhere to boost police budgets. The Border Force has warned of longer queues at airports as it faces cuts to its £1.2 billion budget, saying there would be a 'threat to national security' if it lost frontline staff.
Two police unions have launched a last-minute bid for extra money. In an article in the Daily Telegraph, Nick Smart, president of the Police Superintendents's Association, and Tiff Lynch, acting chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, say:
Police are being asked to do more with less – again – as pressure mounts on already overstretched budgets.
Why? Policing faces a £1.2 billion shortfall. This is before it is asked to deliver the ambitious pledges of the new government.
Police forces across the country are being forced to shed officers and staff to deliver savings.
These are not administrative cuts. They go to the core of policing's ability to deliver a quality service: fewer officers on the beat, longer wait times for victims, and less available officers when a crisis hits.
As a practical lobbying exercise, this is fairly pointless, because it comes too late, but the two unions are making their case to the public.
Chris Bryant, the culture minister, has said that the spending review will mark 'an end to austerity'. He told Times Radio:
We know from running the government that spending money of itself isn't an achievement. Spending money and getting results is an achievement and that's why we are saying now with this spending review on Wednesday it's an end to austerity …
That period of austerity where I think previous governments simply cut all public service budgets just because they believed that was what you had to do is over.
But he also said some budgets would be 'stretched'. He said health and defence spending would rise, but added:
There are going to be other parts of the budget that are going to be much more stretched and be difficult.
Ministers have been promising the end of austerity at least since Theresa May was in office. Labour defend using the term on the grounds that overall government spending is going up in real terms. But there is no agreed definition of 'austerity' and, if spending is falling in certain areas, that may feel like austerity, and so using the term does not contribute a lot to public debate. What it does mean, though, is government not wanting to be associated with George Osborne.
Here is our overnight story about the spending review.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Keir Starmer gives a speech at a London Tech Week event.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Noon: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, gives a speech at Port Talbot in south Wales.
2.30pm: Angela Rayner, the deputy PM and housing secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Also, Starmer is meeting Mark Rutte, the Nato general secretary, in Downing Street today.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm at the moment), or message me on social media. I can't read all the messages BTL, but if you put 'Andrew' in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can't promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Welsh railways to get £445m investment in spending review
Welsh railways to get £445m investment in spending review

Rhyl Journal

time24 minutes ago

  • Rhyl Journal

Welsh railways to get £445m investment in spending review

Rachel Reeves is expected to announce the additional funding as part of her spending review, aiming to address what the Treasury sees as years of underinvestment in Welsh infrastructure. Understood to be a combination of direct funding and additional money for the Welsh government, the investment is expected to be spent on projects such as fixing level crossings, building new stations and upgrading railway lines. A Treasury source said: 'With this Government, Wales will thrive, and the Chancellor has prioritised bringing forward a package that has the potential to be truly transformative.' On Tuesday, Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan told members of the Senedd that her government was 'expecting something positive from the spending review'. She said: 'I've been clear and I've been consistent when it comes to rail funding that we have not been getting our fair share of funding, in a position that the Tories left us with for over a decade. 'The difference between the Tories and the UK Labour Government is that they've recognised that injustice.' Baroness Morgan's comments came in response to criticism from Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth of a decision to classify the £6.6 billion Oxford-to-Cambridge line as an England and Wales project. The designation means Wales will not receive the additional rail funding it would get if branded an England-only project. Mr ap Iorwerth said Wales had been 'getting our share until Labour actively moved the goalposts'. The expected announcement of additional funding for Welsh railways is one of several transport-related investments set to be confirmed on Wednesday. Ms Reeves has already announced plans to spend a total of £15.6 billion on public transport projects in England's city regions, and is understood to be preparing to extend the £3 cap on bus fares in England until March 2027.

Reeves to promise investment in ‘renewal' as she unveils spending plans
Reeves to promise investment in ‘renewal' as she unveils spending plans

Rhyl Journal

time24 minutes ago

  • Rhyl Journal

Reeves to promise investment in ‘renewal' as she unveils spending plans

The Chancellor is expected to announce big increases in spending on the NHS, defence and schools as part of a spending review set to include £113 billion of investment thanks to looser borrowing rules. She will also reveal changes to the Treasury's 'green book' rules that govern which projects receive investment in an effort to boost spending outside London and the South East. Arguing that this investment is 'possible only because of the stability I have introduced' after the October budget, Ms Reeves is expected to say her spending review will 'ensure that renewal is felt in people's everyday lives, their jobs, their communities'. She will say: 'The priorities in this spending review are the priorities of working people. 'To invest in our country's security, health and economy so working people all over our country are better off.' Among the other announcements expected at the spending review is £39 billion for affordable homes over the next 10 years as the Government seeks to meet its promise of building 1.5 million homes by the next election. The Treasury said this would see annual investment in affordable housing rise to £4 billion by 2029/30, almost double the average of £2.3 billion between 2021 and 2026. A Government source said: 'We're turning the tide against the unacceptable housing crisis in this country with the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation, delivering on our plan for change commitment to get Britain building.' The Chancellor has also already announced some £15.6 billion of spending on public transport in England's city regions, and £16.7 billion for nuclear power projects, the bulk of which will fund the new Sizewell C plant in Suffolk. But the spending review is expected to set out tough spending limits for departments other than health, defence and education. Although Ms Reeves is reported to have agreed to an above-inflation increase in the policing budget, this is thought to have come at the expense of cuts in other parts of Home Office spending. And sources close to London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan have expressed concern that the spending review will have nothing for the capital. Ahead of the spending review, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that any increase in NHS funding above 2.5% is likely to mean real-terms cuts for other departments or further tax rises to come in the budget this autumn. The Chancellor has already insisted that her fiscal rules remain in place, along with Labour's manifesto commitment not to increase income tax, national insurance or VAT. She will say on Wednesday: 'I have made my choices. In place of chaos, I choose stability. In place of decline, I choose investment. In place of retreat, I choose national renewal. 'These are my choices. These are this Government's choices. These are the British people's choices.'

Spending Review: Shaping Scotland's priorities for years to come
Spending Review: Shaping Scotland's priorities for years to come

BBC News

time27 minutes ago

  • BBC News

Spending Review: Shaping Scotland's priorities for years to come

Increased spending for Scotland on defence, computing and the development of carbon-capture technology have been promised in the chancellor's Spending Reeves has found £250m for the Royal Navy's nuclear submarine base on the Clyde, £750m to bring the most powerful supercomputer in the UK to Edinburgh, and funding for the Acorn Project in St Fergus. Acorn would take greenhouse gas emissions and store them under the North Sea, in a process known as carbon capture and storage (CCS).The news comes as Reeves announces the budgets for all UK government departments over the next few years. Getting the review right is a tricky balancing can see ways that public funds could be used more efficiently or even cut. Everyone has their top priority for spending what happens if there's a root and branch review, with every spending line scrutinised, new priorities set and given more funds and others squeezed or cut?We should find out later. But it may not be as radical a review as sometimes presented as too much is already committed by contract or by government manifesto to make really radical changes. What spending is being reviewed? The clue is in the name. This is not about taxation, and it's not about balancing the books. That's for the Budget, and one of them is expected in autumn, to cover review takes the spending totals already set by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), and chooses how to allocate the day-to-day spending (also known as current or revenue spending) for the next three financial also plans capital spending for four years on projects with a lifespan beyond the year, such as includes the spending in Scotland by Whitehall departments, such as work and pensions and defence. It does not include funds spent by Holyrood. How tight will it be for day-to-day spending? We already know, at least roughly, the total numbers the chancellor has to allocate. The increase in day-to-day spending is an average 1.2% per year over the three years to funds have been front-loaded by the Labour government. In other words, most of the extra spending it gets from big tax increases on business and the wealthy are being used to lift spending in its first two years. Then it gets every department were to retain the same share (which would suggest the review effort has been wasted), it would get the average we already know the defence budget is getting a significant lift, to confront growing challenges and new types of warfare. We also know the NHS requires more than a standstill budget to meet rising demands on it. And the Westminster government has committed to increasing the amount of childcare it provides. That implies an estimated cut of 1.3% in real terms for other items of government and justice have taken the brunt of such cuts in the five spending reviews since they started 27 years ago, though not in the one-year spending review carried out last big question about such cuts is whether they mean a reduced level of provision, or a challenge to get at least the current level of public service out of less sector productivity has gone backwards since the pandemic. There's a need and a big challenge to reverse that and it may need some spending to help the process happen, with perhaps more use of technology to replace civil servants. What's available for the longer term? Capital spending looks in an easier position, not least because Rachel Reeves' spending constraints allow her to borrow for that. She aims to match day-to-day spending with tax revenue, so it should not be funded by recent days, we have seen announcements to fund capital projects for defence, transport in the north of England and a large nuclear power station in capture and storage projects, to trap greenhouse gases, include the Acorn Project in a promise to spend "an initial £250m" over three years on the Clyde submarine base, "supporting jobs, skills and growth across the west of Scotland".A lot of the allocations are being attached to the government's top priority of economic growth, with an emphasis on spreading funds around the UK. Some of this spending precedes the announcement of an industrial strategy, in which the UK government intends to give added backing to industries of strategic importance such as steel, or those with the most growth potential, so there's lots about science and why Spending Review day starts with a further preview of the review: Edinburgh University is to get £750m allocated to a new super-computer, which is billed as the most powerful in the UK, and among the most powerful in the world. It will be available for research into numerous projects such as personalised medicine, sustainable air travel or climate reinstates a project that was cancelled last summer by Rachel Reeves, because it had not been funded by the outgoing Conservative government. What decisions will directly affect Scotland? Much of the state pensions and welfare budget is distributed throughout the UK by the department for work and pensions. But that share has been falling as Holyrood takes on devolved to universal credit would be felt in Scotland. That includes changes to the two-child limit on state pension's triple lock of at least the rate of average pay increase, of price inflation or 2.5%, is being retained and that also covers there are cuts in civil service numbers, that could apply to those who work in Scotland for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, for HM Revenue and Customs and for the Department of Work and there is also a plan to push many more civil service jobs out of London, so there could be gains for Scotland from relocations. How will this affect Holyrood's budget? Many of the changes in day-to-day spending, or capital spending on transport for instance, directly affect other parts of the UK, and in some cases only formula for spending should then apply a share of that change to the block grant passed from the Treasury to Holyrood – whether an increased share or a proportionate the health service gets a boost, above the rate of increase in other departments, that will be a positive for Holyrood as well. But if justice takes a hit, a proportionate share of that will be passed on to Scottish will then be free to allocate the block grant as they wish, so they can pass on the health spending at the same rate as England, or apply that money to another recent years, more and more spending has gone into the new Holyrood welfare budget, so that £1.5bn is being spent each year on making welfare more generous than in the rest of the of that has been to mitigate decisions taken on welfare by the Westminster government. And there could be relatively good news for Holyrood from two decisions in the spending review which have already been the cut in pension-age Winter Fuel Allowance brings a share to Holyrood of the necessary funds to make that happen – somewhere around £125m. That eases the pressure on Shona Robison, Holyrood's finance secretary, as she decides how to use the resources she gets. And if Rachel Reeves follows through on the commitment to increase the level of state childcare support, that will also ease Holyrood's budget challenge, as it has already found funds to increase childcare. A share of that new-found money for England will be added to Holyrood's block grant, but need not be spent that Robison has put off decisions about her medium-term plans until she sees Rachel Reeves' spending review and the impact it has on Holyrood's day-to-day and capital Scottish finance secretary is due to update MSPs by the end of June on how she uses it, including a priority list of capital include high-profile road upgrades in the Highlands and Aberdeenshire, and the stalled programme for building NHS National Treatment faces competing demands to improve the buildings and IT in public services and, on the other hand, improving economic infrastructure such as roads and rail, with a more direct impact on economic also has the challenge of either cutting some public services or reforming them in such a way that they can be provided more spending review may be of major significance for public services for years to it may be replaced by annual budgets, as we've seen in the past, making different decisions depending on funds available and political announcement in the Commons later is only the start of the process of putting those funds to work.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store