Live Reeves to hand out billions in spending review
Rachel Reeves is set to unveil billions of pounds of new public spending as the Chancellor argues that her priorities are 'the priorities of working people'.
Ms Reeves will deliver her eagerly-anticipated spending review at lunchtime and it is expected to include big increases for the NHS, defence and schools.
But other Whitehall departments are likely to face real-terms funding cuts.
Among the main announcements is expected to be a £30 billion increase in NHS funding, a rise of around 2.8 per cent in real-terms, along with an extra £4.5 billion for schools and a rise in defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that any increase in NHS funding above 2.5 per cent is likely to mean real-terms cuts for other departments, or further tax rises to come in the Budget this autumn.
This could mean a budgetary squeeze for areas such as local government, the justice system and the Home Office, despite reports that policing would receive an above-inflation settlement.
Ms Reeves is expected to say: '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.'
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