Healey sets October budget as UK government orders ministers to live within their means
Britain’s new chancellor John Healey has set 28 October for his first budget, and he says it will be built on “fiscal discipline.” The timing
Britain’s new chancellor John Healey has set 28 October for his first budget, and he says it will be built on “fiscal discipline.” The timing matters: his government is already promising fresh help with household bills while telling ministers to stay inside their current spending limits.
Healey and Prime Minister Andy Burnham have sent cabinet ministers a joint letter warning them to fund any new pledges from the budgets they already have. Treasury sources told the BBC the pair want to keep within the fiscal rules drawn up by their predecessors, Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.
Spending squeeze
The message is blunt. Ministers must work “within the budgets they have already got” while paying for “new things they want to do this year and next,” according to a report in the Times.
That leaves little room for manoeuvre as Burnham moves quickly on a set of cost-of-living promises unveiled after taking office. Among them: scrapping VAT on domestic electricity bills, cutting business rates for pubs, and capping bus fares in England.
Those pledges are politically popular. They also come with a bill.
Healey said his budget would “meet our fiscal rules” and give “businesses and families some of the stability they need to plan for the future.” The pledge is aimed at calming markets and reassuring voters, but it also signals tighter choices ahead for departments hoping for extra cash.
Pressure builds before October
The budget lands at a delicate moment. Public spending is under strain, and any attempt to fund new commitments without breaking the rules will force ministers to make trade-offs, cut elsewhere, or delay plans.
For now, the government is stressing discipline. For businesses, households and local services, the real test will come on 28 October, when Healey sets out how far Burnham’s promises can go without upsetting the numbers.
