Rachel Reeves is prioritizing significant infrastructure spending reforms in the lead-up to the next election, hoping to win voter confidence despite deep cuts in everyday spending. While she promotes a vision of renewal that boosts NHS and defense funding, challenges abound, including potential tax increases and backlash from within the Labour Party regarding cuts to benefits. Keir Starmer supports this initiative, highlighting an overall budget growth, but stress remains on maintaining community support amidst dwindling funds for several essential departments, emphasizing the balance needed between spending on health, defense, and other critical areas.
Rachel Reeves has gambled billions of pounds of infrastructure spending on renewing Britain ahead of the next election but faces a battle to convince voters that Labour can deliver change amid deep cuts to everyday spending.
Economists warned that mounting pressures on spending, including the U-turn on winter fuel payments for pensioners and Labour MPs' backlash against disability benefit cuts, meant that Reeves could be forced to raise taxes or look for more savings in the autumn.
Writing in the Guardian, Keir Starmer said that departmental budgets, which will grow by 2.3% a year in real terms, showed the government had entered a new stage in its efforts to transform the country.
The NHS and defence were the big winners of the spending review, with 90% of the increase in the day-to-day budget over the next three years going to health and 80% of the boost in capital spending going to defence.
Collection
[
|
...
]