British finance minister John Healey said on Friday he will hold his first budget on October 28 and he pledged to stick to the borrowing rules he inherited from his predecessor Rachel Reeves.
“This will be a budget that moves money and power out of Westminster, and into every postcode around Britain,” Healey said in a statement. “It will be built on fiscal discipline. It will meet our fiscal rules.”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who moved into Downing Street less than two weeks ago, has also said he will honour the fiscal rules which include a pledge to balance day-to-day spending with tax revenues by the end of the decade.
Economists say the government has only a small margin of error for hitting that target and some of Burnham’s policy priorities — such as extra defence spending and better social care — will put more strain on the public finances.
Burnham has said that meeting the fiscal rules might mean “having to ask for a little more” on tax although he has also pledged to stick with promises made by previous prime minister Keir Starmer not to raise the main rates of taxation.
(Reporting by Muvija M）
