The government has put a string of measures on the record ahead of John Healey's first Budget, which the Chancellor is due to deliver in the Commons at about 12:30 today, while a further set of expected announcements, including a fuel duty freeze and a rise in the National Living Wage, rests on reports the Treasury has not confirmed.
HM Treasury announced five "everyday fixes" on Monday, headed by the removal of import tariffs on more than 100 products, an end to the Carer's Allowance "cliff edge" and new parental pay for self-employed fathers and same-sex partners. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government separately announced £285m of "Good Growth" funding for local leaders on Sunday.
The announcements set the terms for the first Budget of Andy Burnham's premiership. Healey took over from Rachel Reeves at the Treasury on 20 July and has kept her fiscal rules, under which day-to-day spending must be met from taxes rather than borrowing by 2029/30 and public debt must be falling as a share of the economy in that year, the Press Association reported on Tuesday.
In a video message released on the eve of the statement, Healey said: "Breathing space for today and fresh hope for the future. That's what today's Budget will deliver."
The Treasury release said the Chancellor "unveils five everyday fixes to ease household costs, support working families and end the Carer's Allowance cliff edge ahead of Wednesday's Budget." It named baked beans, chocolate and gherkins among the products losing tariffs and said the move would also help farmers facing higher fertiliser bills and households that rely on kerosene heating oil.
The Treasury put the saving on the household food shop at up to £21 a year. That figure is a ceiling rather than an average, and it combines the new suspensions with those already introduced under Reeves, whose first package, covering products including pasta, fruit juice and tuna, came into force in June.
Healey said in the release: "Today's everyday fixes are just a small part of what we are doing to give families a bit of breathing space."
Under the current Carer's Allowance rules, unpaid carers lose the whole benefit once their earnings pass a weekly limit set at 16 times the hourly National Living Wage. The government has committed to replace that cut-off with a taper, under which the benefit would reduce gradually as earnings rise. The release set the taper at £1 withdrawn for every £1 earned above the limit but gave no exact start date or cost.
Around 150,000 self-employed fathers and same-sex partners who currently receive no statutory parental pay would become eligible for two weeks' support worth up to £194 a week, MoneySavingExpert reported on Monday. The Treasury declined to give the site further details and said more would follow in the Budget. The package also includes making permanent a higher tax-free mileage allowance.
The Conservatives said the "everyday fixes" are an "insult to families hammered by Labour's tax rises". Andrew Griffith, the shadow chancellor, said Labour is "not serious about the challenges facing our country".
On devolution, the £285m Good Growth fund is a national pot for mayors and local leaders in England, with areas that are not yet strategic authorities able to access a share, according to the MHCLG press office. Strategic authorities are to receive a further £150m next year, and the government is working with mayors on a £1.5bn borrowing facility from 2028, which is a lending arrangement rather than a grant.
Burnham said of the funding: "I'm calling time on local leaders going cap in hand to Westminster. That is no way to run a country," Reuters reported.
A second group of measures has emerged only through press reports. The Sun first reported that fuel duty will stay frozen at 52p a litre for a 16th year, with a rise planned for January cancelled, and PA carried the report on Tuesday night. The Times reported that the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over will rise by 3.9%, from £12.71 to about £13.20 an hour, a rate normally set on the advice of the Low Pay Commission.
The Telegraph reported late on Tuesday that gas standing charges will be scrapped, saving households up to £50. Reuters relayed the report without independent confirmation, and Burnham had previously been reported only to have asked Healey and Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh to examine the idea.
Other reports point to an income tax allowance of £13,036 for low-income pensioners, a 2p rise in duty on a pint of beer and, according to the Financial Times, £20.4bn of extra capital for the National Wealth Fund and the British Business Bank, funded by borrowing. None of these has been confirmed by the Treasury on the record.
The Wine and Spirit Trade Association said ahead of the statement: "The WSTA continues to call for Government to recognise the immense pressure consumers, businesses, pubs and restaurants are under and put a stop to the tax raids."
The Budget document and the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast, both published alongside the statement, will set out the cost of the measures and how they are to be paid for.
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