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Healey delivers first budget as chancellor with modest measures
The budget's small fiscal changes and weaker forecasts matter for businesses and public bodies planning around tighter fiscal rules and weaker growth.
What happened
John Healey delivered his first budget as chancellor on 28 October 2026, announcing a range of measures that were relatively small in fiscal terms. UK Parliament The chancellor described the budget as a budget for working people, and its measures were generally modest and cheaply funded. Exeposé Online The government met its fiscal rules for day-to-day spending and public debt in 2029/30. UK Parliament The margin by which the government met its day-to-day spending rule fell from £22bn to £15bn since the rules were last formally assessed at the November 2025 budget. UK Parliament Capital spending is forecast to be £0.9bn lower per year from 2027/28 onwards, and the civil service transformation programme is forecast to lower spending by £0.5bn from 2028/29 onwards. UK Parliament
Around it
The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that taxes, spending and borrowing would be higher than previously forecast, mostly driven by higher inflation and a moderate deterioration in economic conditions. UK Parliament The OBR projects no growth in real earnings next year and a slight fall in real household disposable income, and real income growth per person over the past decade has been the weakest since the 1960s. Exeposé Online Former Conservative MP Kit Malthouse criticized the budget as negligent, arguing that the government's response involved more borrowing and higher taxes. Andover Advertiser Healey resigned as defence secretary under Keir Starmer over what he argued was inadequate defence funding, and as chancellor has committed to a defence spending path that critics have said is insufficient. Exeposé Online
Sources
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