The day after the budget is often the moment when big initiatives announced by the chancellor the day before with a flourish start to unravel as experts pore over the small print.
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experts → announce → print
There is not much of that happening this morning – mainly because John Healey did not have any really big initiatives up his sleeve.
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Healey → be → sleeve
Compared with a normal budget, his tax and spending initiatives were mostly relatively minor.
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initiatives → compare → budget
That means that the opposition parties have been struggling to find things to attack, and so instead they have resorted to criticising Healey for what he did not do: slash welfare (the Tory/Reform UK solution), or join the EU’s single market (the Lib Dems’).
Healey has given interviews to all the main broadcasters, which are playing out this morning, but they were recorded last night and they don’t have any sensational new revelations.
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they → mean → revelations
As Rowena Mason reports, one of the top lines was Healey saying he would cut welfare spending before the election.
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he → report → election
I will be posting all the highlights this morning.
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I → post → highlights
The two main public spending thinktanks, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Resolution Foundation, are both publishing reports assessing the budget this morning.
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thinktanks → publish → budget
The RF has issued a news release with its main findings and its assessment of the overall economic impact of the budget measures highlights three problems.
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assessment → issue → problems
It accuses Healey of a “complete failure” to target help with energy bills at those most in need.
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It → accuse → need
It says:
The poorest half of households will gain £158 on average from cost of living support this year and next, just £14 more than the £144 received by the richest half – highlighting a complete failure to target help at those who need it most.
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who → say → it
It says long-term public spending plans imply a return to austerity.
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plans → say → austerity
It says:
Tight spending plans beyond 2028-29 imply departmental budgets will take more of the strain in the future.
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budgets → say → future
But if the 3% defence target is met and real health spending continues to grow at 2.6%, pencilled-in spending totals imply that funding for 13 ‘unprotected’ departments will fall to just 4.7% of GDP by 2031-32, close to the post-austerity historic low.
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funding → meet → low
It says people will get poorer between now and the end of the parliament.
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people → say → parliament
It says:
Median real annual disposable incomes for working age households are set to grow by a paltry £600 over the course of the parliament.
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incomes → say → parliament
Between now (2026-27) and the end of the parliament (2028-29), typical incomes are forecast to fall in total by £1,050 (3 per cent).
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incomes → forecast → 1,050
This is one reason why so many people continue to think Andy Burnham will call an election next spring (before the electorate feels the full misery of getting poorer) – despite Burnham yesterday saying he would not hold one within the next 12 months.
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he → continue → months
Jonathan Haskel, chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, and Ruth Curtice, head of the Resolution Foundation, speak at an event where the RF is presenting its budget analysis.
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RF → speak → analysis
Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
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Alexander → take → Commons
Helen Miller, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, presents the IFS’s budget analysis.
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Miller → present → analysis
Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
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Street → hold → briefing
After 11.30am: MPs resume the budget debate in the Commons.
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MPs → resume → Commons
Andy Burnham is on a visit to a Rolls-Royce factory in the Midlands where he is speaking to the media.
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he → speak → media
I’m afraid we are no longer able to have comments open below the line every day on this blog.
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comments → ’m → blog
If you want to contact me, please email politics.live@theguardian.com.
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you → want → politics.live@theguardian.com
You can use this email to flag up corrections, comments for publication, questions or complaints.
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You → use → publication
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