Why Reeves should be wary of changing cash ISAs
Shrewd parents extol upon their children the importance of stashing away some cash. Unfortunately, they rarely offer much guidance on what to actually do with that money. As a result, much of it gets squirrelled away in pink, ceramic pigs where inflation eats it up.
Many adults make the same mistake as these young savers. The more savvy ones opt to invest, perhaps in an Individual Savings Account (or ISAs), which are tax free savings accounts that let you save up to £20,000 every year, usually in the form of cash or stocks and shares. But it's widely reported that the Treasury is considering a radical shake up of the market by lowering the amount savers are allowed to deposit in cash.
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ITV News
36 minutes ago
- ITV News
Treasury technicalities plus party politics bring more attention for the North East
The Chancellor's big ticket items for the North East came early - which is somewhere between encouraging and disconcerting when we're talking about public transport projects. Around £2.8 billion from the Spending Review was announced last Wednesday for infrastructure in our region, including extending the Tyne and Wear Metro to Washington. By comparison, Rachel Reeves' big speech today was a bit of an anticlimax. In the small print afterwards, we found that areas of Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Stockton that 'have been too easily left behind' are to receive up to £20m over the next decade for things like improving parks and tackling graffiti. The government are calling them 'trailblazer neighbourhoods', which sounds a bit like a spoof initiative from The Thick Of It, and a lot like the Conservative governments' various funding pots for local regeneration schemes. The Tories talked a lot about what they called 'levelling up', with mixed results. Labour have talked less about tackling regional inequalities, but have made a technical tweak that might make a big difference. They've revised the Treasury's 'Green Book', used to judge value-for-money for investment. London and the South East normally deliver bigger bang for your buck, so have often been prioritised for new infrastructure. The government says: no more, wider impacts will be considered, so regions like ours will be able to compete. Despite some government departments having their budgets squeezed when it comes to day-to-day spending, there is money around for investment due to another tweak to government rules, around borrowing. Rachel Reeves made a passing promise today to set out the government's plans for 'Northern Powerhouse Rail' in the coming weeks. Campaigners say it should mean a high speed rail line from Liverpool to Hull, and up to the North East. It's hard not to be sceptical, given it's been talked about in many forms over many years. The Chancellor spoke quite a bit today about the government being focused on ensuring there's economic growth, and people have opportunity, in every part of the country. She also dedicated a fair amount of time to attacking Reform UK, reflecting the threat they pose to Labour, after their local election successes in places like County Durham. The Chancellor has been accused of doom and gloom in her first 11 months in office, focusing on what she claims has been a horrible inheritance from the Conservatives. With this Spending Review she tried to change gear and set out a more positive plan for the years ahead. The North East will hope to play a big part.
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Reeves ‘failed' to back English councils in spending review, MPs warn
The Treasury will pump an additional £3.4 billion per year into councils by 2028/29, compared with 2024/25, which combined with yearly council tax rises is set to boost their spending power by 3.1% in real terms. But Mr Forster warned that 'in the detail of the statement', the Government 'is only investing an extra 1.1% in local government next year and the year after'. The Liberal Democrat MP told the Commons he was 'very disappointed' with the Chancellor's statement and asked: 'What does the Chancellor say to councils across the country and to my constituents of Woking to justify that lack of investment?' Ms Reeves replied: 'Well, that's real-terms increases in spending every year, that this Labour Government are giving to local authorities. 'And that compares to the Conservative-Liberal Democrat administration from 2010 to 2015 that cut real spending by 2.9% every year, so I'm much happier to stand on my record as Chancellor than what the Liberal Democrats did when they had a chance of being in government.' Woking issued a section 114 notice two years ago, in June 2023, when it faced having to plug a £1.2 billion deficit. Billpayers in the Surrey borough faced a 9.99% council tax rise the following year. Mr Forster, who is a member of the Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, told the PA news agency: 'In today's spending review, the Chancellor has failed to invest in local government – and she is refusing to acknowledge the harm this will cause. 'In my constituency of Woking, our local authority has already gone bankrupt, I fear more will soon follow. Following the former Conservative administration bankrupting Woking, we have seen public toilets close.' He called on the Government to 'support councils more'. The spending review which Ms Reeves fronted on Wednesday pledged 'wider reforms' which 'will ensure funding is effectively targeted, based on an updated assessment of need, and will consolidate funding to give local authorities greater flexibility to innovate'. Local government reorganisation will 'improve the join-up between local services, enabling councils to deliver services more efficiently', according to The Treasury. Conservative MP for Broxbourne Mr Cocking, who is also a member of the Commons committee, described the spending review as 'devastating'. He said: 'Councils that are going through local government reorganisation, where councils that have been run really well, are going to be potentially lumbered into new super-unitary councils, with councils that haven't managed their finances well'. Mr Cocking said that where authorities merge, 'you'll find that residents that have got sound council finances, have had good services, are now going to be subsidising areas that have made bad decisions', and added that the spending review failed to compensate for this. Surrey's district and county councils are set to merge, with new single-tier authorities taking on town hall functions, as part of the Government's push towards 'unitary' councils throughout England set out in last year's English Devolution White Paper.
North Wales Chronicle
2 hours ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Additional funding will avoid public services cliff-edge, says O'Dowd
Mr O'Dowd said he had reached an agreement with the Treasury over an additional £600 million to support public services in the region. He said it brought the total extra funding provided for the region to £1.3 billion. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said the Northern Ireland Executive will 'receive the largest real-term settlement since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement' following the Government's spending review. He added: 'The Executive will be receiving over 24% more per person than equivalent UK Government spending in the rest of the United Kingdom. 'That means the Executive will be receiving £19.3 billion per year on average between 2026-27 and 2028-29 with an average extra £1.2 billion through the Barnett formula per year, made up of £1 billion of day-to-day spending and £220 million of capital for that four-year period.' Mr Jones said there would also be additional funding of £137 million over three years to tackle paramilitarism and organised crime, £11 million over three years to fund community development projects, £310 million over four years for city and growth deals and £185 million over three years for public service transformation and £2 million for integrated education. Mr O'Dowd said agreement had been reached with the Treasury after months of negotiations. He said: 'It will deliver an additional £600 million of funding provided for vital public services here. 'This will enable the Executive to take a long-term strategic approach to public service delivery. 'It helps avoid the potential cliff-edge in public funding that could have occurred when the restoration financial package comes to an end and the resulting damage this would have done to frontline public services.' Mr O'Dowd said the Treasury had agreed to exclude £329 million of agriculture funding from the relative funding calculation for Northern Ireland. He said: 'Without this agreement the Executive would have received £600 million less in funding over the spending review period. 'The agreement we have reached with Treasury will see us funded above 124% excluding agriculture between 2026-27 and 2028-29. 'The inclusion of agriculture and non-Barnett funding increases this to 128%.' Mr O'Dowd added: 'Since taking up the role of Finance Minister I have consistently said I would do everything in my power to ensure our public services are fairly and properly funded. 'This agreement will see £600 million more for public services over the spending review period, providing additional investment in the services that we all rely on and delivers on my commitment to support workers, families and communities.' People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said the spending review had failed to deliver for working people in Northern Ireland. He said: 'Once again, the British government has shown that its economic agenda is incapable of delivering for ordinary people.'
