'I choose national renewal': Reeves set to unveil spending plans
Rachel Reeves will vow to "invest in Britain's renewal" as she reveals her spending plans for the coming years on Wednesday.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.
But there has been a steady stream of announcements ahead of Rachel Reeves walking up to the dispatch box in the House of Commons, so what do we know, and what are we waiting to find out?
What is the spending review?
In October the Chancellor set out the budgets for Government departments for the year 2025-26, in the Autumn Budget.
What Wednesday's announcement will do is set out the budgets for future years, focussing on two key areas:
Resource spending, or the 'day-to-day' running and administration costs of departments, which includes things like salaries and supplies.
Capital spending, which is the money put aside for investment in infrastructure and public services, such as new roads and military equipment.
When will the Chancellor announce what is in the spending review?
The spending review will take place on Wednesday in the House of Commons, after Prime Minister's Questions, which normally finishes at around 12:30pm.
What do we already know is in the spending review?
More than 75% of pensioners will now receive Winter fuel payments this year. The Government announced that pensioners with an annual income of £35,000 or less will have their winter fuel payments restored this winter, in a major U-turn. It will cost around £1.25bn in England and Wales.
Half a million more children will receive free school meals. All pupils in England whose families claim universal credit will be eligible for free school meals.
The government will increase defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product from April 2027, as the cost of around £5bn extra a year. There is also an ambition – but no firm commitment – to increase it to 3% during the next parliament.
Science and technology will receive a £86bn package, which will include funding for research into drug treatments and longer-lasting batteries.
A £15.6bn investment package for transport outside London, including funding to extend the metros in Tyne and Wear, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands
A £14.2bn investment into building the Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk, although the Government still can't confirm if the project is fully funded.
What is expected in the spending review?
The spending review is set to include £113 billion of investment thanks to looser borrowing rules, with big increases earmarked for the NHS, defence and schools.
But other departments could face cuts as the Chancellor tries to balance recent announcements, like the 2.5% for defence spending, with manifesto commitments, like to not increase certain tax rates.
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.
What will Rachel Reeves say?
The Chancellor has acknowledged that not enough people are feeling the progress Labour has made and said her spending review will be about 'making working people better off'.
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.
'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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Spending Review
For more information on the Winter Fuel Payment announcement for 2025/26, click here, you have received a suspicious message regarding your energy bills, report it by clicking here, apply for the Warm Homes Plan, click here, learn more about the how announcements made in the chancellor's Spending Review will effect you, click here.
