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Bank taxes to rise by less than some feared to help fund ‘breathing space’

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Cite

Wise, A. (2026, October 28). Bank taxes to rise by less than some feared to help fund ‘breathing space’. Evening Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/john-healey-budget-banks-trades-union-congress-conservative-b1302652.html

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Evening Standard · collected 2026-10-28 · by Anna Wise

Quick Summary

The Chancellor announced an increase in bank taxes to 6%, up from the current 3%, but will be temporary and end on March 31, 2028. This move is expected to raise £1.5 billion for energy bill support according to the OBR, though some banks may shift profits overseas to avoid higher tax rates. Bank shares rose by around 3% following the announcement as experts noted this was less severe than initially feared, with analysts suggesting a relief that the rate did not reach proposed levels of 8%.
Written by AI on 2026-10-31, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On October 28, 2026, British Chancellor John Healey presented his first autumn budget under Prime Minister Andy Burnham's premiership in response to high inflation and increased government spending levels. The budget included a £1bn allocation for social and affordable housing across England, bringing the total funding for the government’s 10-year homes program past £40bn. Additionally, Healey announced plans to devolve more power and funding to local leaders in England through a new £285m "good growth" funding package and a £1.5bn borrowing facility to support local projects until 2028 when some income tax revenue will be directly handed over to local areas.

However, the budget also raised concerns as it included higher taxes on banks, which critics warn could raise mortgage rates, potentially harming homeowners. Moreover, there was criticism that the scale of the spending did not match previous rhetoric about radical reform, with many in Westminster questioning whether the budget adequately addresses the economic challenges posed by global turmoil, particularly the US's war with Iran.

Written for “Chancellor's Budget U-turns” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 119 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.35, but all 2 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 112165: attributed speech only · logged 2026-10-31

Story

📰 Chancellor's Budget U-turns
Politics · 120 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 15% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Evening Standard
Hedges 4 of 25 claims Outlet record 65/100
Evening Standard
⚖️ Leans right Hedges 1 of 13 claims Outlet record 65/100
Daily Mail
Hedges 5 of 23 claims Outlet record 68/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 0 of 12 claims Outlet record 65/100
“Article A reports on Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra's call for higher taxes on big banks, while Article B discusses a specific tax increase announced by the Chancellor that is less than some had feared. The events are related but distinct.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 4 of 16 claims Outlet record 65/100
Daily Mail
Hedges 4 of 16 claims Outlet record 68/100
Evening Standard
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 3 of 46 claims Outlet record 65/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 2 of 17 claims Outlet record 65/100
“Article A reports on the announcement of bank tax increases and their effect on bank shares, while Article B discusses Lloyds' finance chief's reaction to the new taxes. They cover related topics but describe different specific events.”
Evening Standard
Hedges 1 of 17 claims Outlet record 65/100
“The articles discuss related but different events: one covers the announcement of a tax rise on banks, while the other focuses on calls for an investigation into a potential Budget leak based on a pre-announcement report.”
Daily Mail
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 27 claims Outlet record 68/100
“Article A discusses an expected increase in bank surcharge from 3% to up to 8%, while Article B reports a confirmed rise to 6%. Though related, they describe different specific events.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
15%
3 of 20 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
65/100
Evening Standard's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
120
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
2
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-31 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Evening Standard · 7872 article(s) · 65 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 65 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Anna Wise
71 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 However, he said the measure was temporary and would be in place for 15 months, marking a less severe change than some in the industry had feared.
🔮 Bank taxes are set to rise by less than some in the industry had feared, as the Chancellor said he was asking “a bit more” from banks to help fund support on energy bills.
🔮 Bank taxes are set to rise by less than some in the industry had feared, as the Chancellor said he was asking “a bit more” from banks to help fund support on energy bills.
🔮 Bank taxes are set to rise by less than some in the industry had feared, as the Chancellor said he was asking “a bit more” from banks to help fund support on energy bills.
🔮 But this was set against bigger AI spending ambitions, he said, adding: “The four biggest hyperscalers are projected to spend over five trillion US dollars (£3.76 trillion) on AI-related capital expenditure between 2025 and 2030.
🔮 The costs were partly offset by TSB’s contribution to profits of £96 million from May to September, while customer deposits and the mortgage loan book also increased following the acquisition. Santander said it was still integrating the smaller rival after nearly 1,000 of its staff moved over at the beginning of the month. But it is also expecting to find cost “synergies” worth around £400 million by the end of 2028 from the merger. UK chief executive Mahesh Aditya also said the bank was targeting further cost efficiency savings this year “driven by simplification and automation”. “We also continued to deliver against our wider strategic priorities to deepen customer relationships and enhance operational efficiency, while leveraging Banco Santander’s global technology platforms and AI capabilities to provide the support our customers need,” he said.
🔮 Claude chatbot maker Anthropic has kicked off plans to launch its shares on the US’s stock market, proclaiming artificial intelligence could help cure diseases such as cancer and grow economies around the world.
🔮 Banks set to report stronger profits as they face prospect of tax hike Banks are widely speculated to be a target with Mr Healey thought to be considering increasing the surcharge on profits from 3% to 8% – reversing a tax cut for the sector introduced by former Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
🔮 Banks set to report stronger profits as they face prospect of tax hike Banks are widely speculated to be a target with Mr Healey thought to be considering increasing the surcharge on profits from 3% to 8% – reversing a tax cut for the sector introduced by former Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
🔮 The closures were expected to help offset an expected increase in betting taxes of up to £135 million a year from 2027 due to changes affecting online gambling firms introduced by former chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Also by Anna Wise
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 71 articles by Anna Wise →

Topics

Britain British Lloyds Banking Group NatWest Group OBR

Subjects

British NORP · 2× Healey PERSON · 2× OBR ORG · 2× Barclays ORG · 1× Britain GPE · 1× Commons ORG · 1× Lloyds Banking Group ORG · 1× NatWest Group ORG · 1× UK Finance ORG · 1× the Office for Budget Responsibility ORG · 1×

Narrative

Bosses of the biggest groups representing financial services, including UK Finance and the CBI (Confederation of British Industry), have spoken out against hiking taxes in recent weeks, arguing it will damage the attractiveness of the UK as a place to grow and invest. They say banks are more likely to move their offices outside of the UK and to other financial hubs where the tax burden is lower.
framing: assertive · carried by 2 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-31
🔮 Bank taxes are set to rise by less than some in the industry had feared, as the Chancellor said he was asking “a bit more” from banks to help fund support on energy bills.
2026-10-31 · Evening Standard
Bank taxes to rise by less than some feared to help fund ‘breathing space’ · assertive framing
2026-10-31 · Evening Standard
Bank taxes to rise by less than some feared to help fund ‘breathing space’ · assertive framing

Claims (20 extracted, 3 hedged)

Bank taxes are set to rise by less than some in the industry had feared, as the Chancellor said he was asking “a bit more” from banks to help fund support on energy bills. asserted
he → set → bills
This will bring the surcharge from the current 3% level to 6%. asserted
This → bring → %
The measure will also be temporary rather than permanent, kicking in from January 1 and ending on March 31 2028. asserted
measure → kick → March
This helped deliver a boost to bank shares on Wednesday afternoon, with shares in Britain’s Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group and Barclays all up by around 3% following the statement. asserted
shares → help → statement
Mr Healey said he was “asking a bit more of our banks to support ordinary people”. asserted
he → say → people
He told the Commons: “As Chancellor, I want to say directly to our banks, I celebrate and am grateful for the role you play. asserted
you → tell → role
“Amid global economic storms, I am looking to our banks to help fund breathing space for British families.” asserted
I → look → families
The surcharge is an extra tax on the profits that banks make. asserted
banks → make → that
It sits on top of the standard rate of corporation tax which is 25%. asserted
which → sit → tax
Increasing the rate for the 15-month period is expected to raise an extra £1.5 billion, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). uncertain
Increasing → increase → Responsibility
But the OBR said this was net of an estimated £190 million reduction in receipts as some banks are assumed to move their profits outside the UK in response to the higher tax rate. asserted
banks → say → rate
Bosses of the biggest groups representing financial services, including UK Finance and the CBI (Confederation of British Industry), have spoken out against hiking taxes in recent weeks, arguing it will damage the attractiveness of the UK as a place to grow and invest. They say banks are more likely to move their offices outside of the UK and to other financial hubs where the tax burden is lower. asserted
burden → represent → hubs
Read More However, some experts said the change is less severe than proposals discussed ahead of the Budget. asserted
change → read → Budget
Gary Greenwood, equity analyst for Shore Capital, said banks had “escaped relatively lightly, particularly compared with some of the more punitive measures discussed ahead of the Budget”. asserted
banks → say → Budget
This included a bigger hike to the surcharge, or alternative measures such as directly taxing the interest banks receive on central bank reserves. asserted
banks → include → reserves
Will Howlett, financials analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said British banks will be “breathing a sign of relief” that the surcharge was increased to 6% and not 8%, and is temporary. asserted
surcharge → say → %
But he cautioned that the time limit “should be taken with a pinch of salt” as the tax rate could be extended if the economic environment does not improve. But he said Mr Healey should be “prepared to extend it and raise it if profits remain sky high”. uncertain
profits → caution → it
The TUC had been calling for the surcharge to rise to at least 8%. asserted
surcharge → call → %
The banking sector paid £39.1 billion in tax in the 2025-26 tax year, which was 8.5% more than the previous year, according to HMRC figures. uncertain
which → pay → figures
Receipts from the surcharge jumped by a fifth year-on-year, largely because profits across the industry have risen. asserted
profits → jump → industry
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