The Chancellor has delivered Labour’s first budget in 14 years.
Rachel Reeves has promised to rebuild Britain and fix the economy.
The Budget aims to fix the NHS and rebuild Britain, while at the same time, ensuring that working people don’t pay higher taxes from their payslips.
It is hoped that the plans outlined in the budget will boost public investment by over £100 billion over the next five years.
As promised there is no increase in National Insurance, VAT, or Income Tax on working people.
The budget commits to increasing day-to-day spending for public services by 3.3 per cent on average in real terms over this year, with a particular focus on the NHS, education and criminal justice.
There is also a crackdown on wasteful spending, with all government departments having a 2 per cent productivity, efficiency, and savings target.
As previously announced, the Chancellor has confirmed an additional £22.6 billion for day-to-day spending over two years for the Department of Health and Social care, supporting the NHS to deliver an extra 40,000 elective appointments per week.
There is also around £1.5 billion capital funding for new surgical hubs, diagnostic scanners and new beds across the NHS estate to create more treatment space in emergency departments, reduce waiting times and help shift more care into the community.
£100 million has been set aside to carry out 200 GP estate upgrades across England, supporting improved use of existing buildings and space, boosting productivity and enabling delivery of more appointments.
As part of a focus on rebuilding the NHS, there are increased taxes on things that are known to cause ill health. The government will renew the tobacco duty escalator which increases all tobacco duty rates by RPI+2 per cent plus an above escalator increase to hand rolling tobacco and introduce a new vaping duty at a flat rate of 22p/ml from October 2026, accompanied by a further one-off increase in tobacco duty to maintain financial incentive to choose vaping over smoking.
To fight obesity, the Soft Drinks Industry Levy will increase over the next five years to account for inflation since it was last updated in 2018, and the duty will also rise in line with inflation every year going forward.
Responding to the budget, Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive, NHS Providers, said: "Long-term financial stability is essential for the ‘next generation’ NHS, for top-quality care and greater productivity.
"Today's budget provides a welcome boost for NHS trust leaders and their teams who are working flat out to improve services, reduce waiting lists and see patients as quickly as possible. The government has recognised the importance of the NHS to the health of the nation and the economy.
"Trust leaders will continue to strive to make the most of every pound going into the NHS while doing everything they can to provide safe, high-quality care."
She continued: “But after years of underinvestment and severe staff shortages, we agree with ministers that we must be realistic about the speed of progress. Today’s economic challenges in the face of rising demand across hospital, mental health, community and ambulance services mean services, having to find unprecedented savings, are in a very tough position.
"Almost £14billion is needed to plug a rocketing backlog of NHS repairs. Vital bits of the NHS are literally falling apart, putting quality of care and sometimes the safety of patients and staff at risk. We welcome the government’s commitment to prioritise increasing capital investment across the NHS."
