UK's finance minister Healey walks fiscal tightrope before first budget
Healey will earmark £150 million for innovative firms in the north of England and promise local leaders more power to drive investment.
- On Monday, Finance Minister John Healey announced plans to give city regions greater powers to develop local industrial strategies, with £150 million from the British Business Bank earmarked for innovative northern firms.
- Healey faces mounting pressure ahead of his October 28 debut budget, with only £24 billion in fiscal leeway as investors worry about inflationary pressures from rising oil prices and shrinking budget headroom.
- Stressing his commitment to "fiscal discipline," Healey and Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledged to maintain fiscal rules balancing day-to-day spending with tax revenues by decade's end, while managing an immediate £5 billion defence spending shortfall.
- Given Burnham's spending commitments to social care and defence, Healey faces pressure to raise billions in tax at his first budget, with rising global borrowing costs making increases likely.
- Healey's speech aims to address a 20-year economic growth challenge that has eluded his predecessors, though Burnham's earlier criticism of undertaxed wealth suggests potential tax reforms could feature in the October budget.
8 Articles
8 Articles
UK's finance minister Healey walks fiscal tightrope before first budget
Britain's new finance minister John Healey, a former trade unionist who has backed light-touch rules for banks, must soon decide on the right balance for a budget that could be the defining moment for Andy Burnham's premiership.
UK finance minister Healey seeks growth through decentralising power
LONDON, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Britain's finance minister, John Healey, will use his first major speech since taking office seven weeks ago to set out how Prime Minister Andy Burnham's plan to devolve power away from central government can help revive gr...
Rising borrowing costs and increased public spending in the UK have put a strain on the budget. Ahead of the October 28th budget deadline, the government is discussing billions of pounds in new revenue streams through wealth, capital gains, and real estate.
Healey says economic growth must extend beyond UK’s biggest cities
Jessica Coates and David Lynch, Press Association Chancellor John Healey says Britain’s growth must extend beyond its biggest cities as he prepares to outline his economic agenda. In a major speech on Monday, the Chancellor is expected to outline plans aimed at driving long-term development across the country, ahead of his first Budget on October […]
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