Good morning. The government plans to be spending almost £1.4tn in 2026-27, rising to almost £1.5tr in 2028-29. Those annual limits are already agreed. Today, whenRachel Reeves, the chancellor, stands up at 12.30pm to present the spending review, she will explain how she has decided to divvy up that money between government departments over the next three years.
This is not a budget, and she will not be announcing changes to tax policy. But it will feel like a budget because, like a budget, it will involve decisions that affect the public services people rely upon. And it is bound to intensify speculation about whether taxes will have to go up in the next budget, in the autumn.
Public spending is hideously complicated, and Reeves needs a clear, simple narrative that will land with the public at large. We know what it is because the Treasury sent out a press release last night with words from the statement where Reeves will sum up what she is trying to achieve. She will say:
The government differentiates between current, day-to-day spending (“resource” spending, in Treasury jargon) and capital spending. In so far as Reeves has “good news” to announce, much of it is in the capital spending area, because she changed her fiscal rules last year to allow more borrowing for infrastructure projects. That is why she is saying “In place of decline, I choose investment”, not “I choose spending”. Some government departments will face real-terms spending cuts.
But there is an obvious political problem with this, well summarised byJohn McDonnell, shadow chancellor when Jeremy Corbyn was Labour leader, in this commentto the Financial Times.
It is easy to promise national renewal, but it is a lot harder to make people believe it is happening. Today’s decisions will have a big effect on what voters do end up concluding about this, but it will take a while to know for sure what that effect will be.
Here isAamna Modhin’s assessment of what to expect in the spending review in her First Edition briefing.
And here is our overnight preview story, byKiran Stacey,focusing on the proposal to spend £39bn on affordable housing.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9am:Keir Starmerchairs cabinet, where Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will be briefing colleagues on what is in the spending review.
Noon:Starmer facesKemi Badenochat PMQs.
12.30pm:Reeves makes a statement to MPs about the spring statement.
4pm:The Institute for Government thinktank holds a briefing on the spring statement.
4.15pm:The National Police Chiefs’ Council gives its response to the spending review.
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If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian hasgiven up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, was the last minister to settle in the spending review negotiatons and there have been reports that her talks withRachel Reeves, the chancellor, got acrimonious. The police have claimed the financial settlement they have been offered is not high enough.
But Cooper and Reeves have put on a united frontin the Sun, where they have both put their names to a joint article saying there will be a significant increase in spending on border security. They say:
The Sun says £580m is being spent over three years on border security, with some of the money funding drones to monitor small boats in the Channel.
The US government has condemned the decision by the UK and four other countries to sanction two far-right Israeli ministers.
In a post on X,Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said:
This is a rare example of the Trump administration and the UK government disagreeing publicly over an issue. While the two governments are worlds apart politically,Keir Starmerhas invested a lot of time in trying to develop a good relationship with Donald Trump and he has been reluctant to criticise almost anything the Trump regime has done, arguing that getting on with the White House is in the national interest.
When it comes to the public finances, graphs normally explain far better than words.Richard Partingtonhas five charts explaining the context for the choicesRachel Reevesis making.
Good morning. The government plans to be spending almost £1.4tn in 2026-27, rising to almost £1.5tr in 2028-29. Those annual limits are already agreed. Today, whenRachel Reeves, the chancellor, stands up at 12.30pm to present the spending review, she will explain how she has decided to divvy up that money between government departments over the next three years.
This is not a budget, and she will not be announcing changes to tax policy. But it will feel like a budget because, like a budget, it will involve decisions that affect the public services people rely upon. And it is bound to intensify speculation about whether taxes will have to go up in the next budget, in the autumn.
Public spending is hideously complicated, and Reeves needs a clear, simple narrative that will land with the public at large. We know what it is because the Treasury sent out a press release last night with words from the statement where Reeves will sum up what she is trying to achieve. She will say:
The government differentiates between current, day-to-day spending (“resource” spending, in Treasury jargon) and capital spending. In so far as Reeves has “good news” to announce, much of it is in the capital spending area, because she changed her fiscal rules last year to allow more borrowing for infrastructure projects. That is why she is saying “In place of decline, I choose investment”, not “I choose spending”. Some government departments will face real-terms spending cuts.
But there is an obvious political problem with this, well summarised byJohn McDonnell, shadow chancellor when Jeremy Corbyn was Labour leader, in this commentto the Financial Times.
It is easy to promise national renewal, but it is a lot harder to make people believe it is happening. Today’s decisions will have a big effect on what voters do end up concluding about this, but it will take a while to know for sure what that effect will be.
Here isAamna Modhin’s assessment of what to expect in the spending review in her First Edition briefing.
And here is our overnight preview story, byKiran Stacey,focusing on the proposal to spend £39bn on affordable housing.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9am:Keir Starmerchairs cabinet, where Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will be briefing colleagues on what is in the spending review.
Noon:Starmer facesKemi Badenochat PMQs.
12.30pm:Reeves makes a statement to MPs about the spring statement.
4pm:The Institute for Government thinktank holds a briefing on the spring statement.
4.15pm:The National Police Chiefs’ Council gives its response to the spending review.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm at the moment), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian hasgiven up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.