Rachel Reeves has unveiled spending plans that promise significant investment in the NHS, defence, and education, highlighting that the º£½ÇÊÓƵ is "starting to see the results" of Labour's efforts.
The spending review details current expenditure for the next three years and capital investment for the coming four years.
Revisions to the Treasury's "green book" rules, which determine the approval of major projects, are being released with the spending review.
The Chancellor announced allocations of £52 billion for Scotland, £20 billion for Northern Ireland, and £23 billion for Wales under the new financial plans.
Key points of the spending plans include:.
– An annual real-terms increase of 3% for the NHS, amounting to an additional £29 billion per year.
– A decade-long commitment of £39 billion to construct affordable and social housing.
– A pledge of £30 billion towards nuclear energy, which includes £14.2 billion for the construction of the Sizewell C plant in Suffolk and £2.5 billion for the development of small modular reactors.
– Defence spending is set to reach 2.6% by April 2027, encompassing intelligence services, with a boost of £11 billion for defence and an extra £600 million for security and intelligence agencies.
– Investment in universities and high-tech sectors will surge, with research and development funding increasing to £22 billion annually by the end of the review period. This includes £2 billion earmarked for an AI action plan to bolster domestic AI capabilities.
– Efforts to halt migrant crossings will receive a boost with an additional £280 million per year for the border security command by the end of the spending review, on top of last year's budget allocation of £150 million.
– The practice of housing asylum seekers in hotels will cease during this Parliament, resulting in savings of £1 billion per year, according to the Chancellor.
– Schools are set to receive a cash uplift of more than £4.5 billion a year in additional funding for the core schools budget by the end of the spending review, with £2.3 billion per year allocated to repairing dilapidated classrooms and £2.4 billion per year to rebuild 500 schools.
– Children's social care will be granted £555 million to address late intervention and low-quality care.
– Some £15 billion has been earmarked for public transport projects in England's city regions, along with a four-year settlement for Transport for London.
– Welsh railways will see upgrades worth £445 million.
– A multi-year settlement of £118m has been agreed to ensure the safety of coal tips in Wales.
– An additional investment of £3.5 billion is planned to upgrade the TransPennine rail route that links York, Leeds and Manchester, and £2.5 billion for East West rail between East Anglia and Oxfordshire.
– Training and apprenticeships will receive a funding increase of £1.2 billion.
– £7 billion has been allocated to fund 14,000 new prison places and up to £700m per year will be invested into reforming the probation system.
– Police spending power will be increased by an average 2.3% per year in real terms over the spending review period – providing more than £2 billion to meet targets to increase the number of neighbourhood police on the streets.
– The £3 bus fare cap will be extended until at least March 2027.
Like this story? Why not sign up here for free to get the latest business news straight to your inbox.
