Healey's Budget set for 28 October, a month earlier than last year's
The UK Budget will take place on Wednesday 28 October, the chancellor has confirmed. GOV.UK published the date in an announcement from the Treasury, the department that runs the public finances. The Budget is the chancellor's statement setting out tax and spending plans, and it will be delivered by John Healey, the UK's new chancellor.
According to the BBC, the Budget is happening a month earlier than the previous year's. The BBC also noted that it was 100 days since Andy Burnham arrived in Downing Street, after leaving Buckingham Palace to assemble his cabinet. Mr Burnham is the prime minister.
The scale of the tax rises expected is considerably smaller than in recent Budgets, the BBC reported. Reuters reported that Mr Healey is set to deliver a careful Budget, mindful of financial markets, and that big spending decisions are not expected this October. Mr Burnham has acknowledged the need for fiscal stability, meaning steady public finances, ahead of the Budget.
Healey's Budget themes were expected to include support with the cost of living, help for entrepreneurs (people who start and run their own businesses), and more financial powers for mayors in England. Reuters reported that English mayors are set to receive new borrowing powers and growth funding. Those mayoral measures concern England only. The Budget is also to include £1bn for social and affordable housing, according to the BBC.
On defence, Mr Burnham said the UK will set out its path to the NATO spending target, the level of defence spending set by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, in Wednesday's Budget. Reuters carried the prime minister's remarks.
Mr Burnham has also turned to Brexit. He has said the current UK-European Union deal is not good enough and has called for a discussion about it. He called for an "honest discussion" about freedom of movement, the right to live and work in EU countries. He then suggested that freedom of movement would only return to the UK if it were approved in a referendum. Mr Burnham's team later did not repeat the referendum condition. They said he wanted a broad-based conversation and was not committing to any outcome.
