LABOUR MP RACHEL Reeves will become the first female chancellor in UK history to deliver a Budget later today.

Reeves has warned that the tax hikes and borrowing increases she is considering may not be enough to undo “14 years of damage” to the National Health Service (NHS) by successive Tory governments, despite plans to put billions of pounds into health.

An increase in spending on the British armed forces is among the expected key measures for the Labour Government’s first Budget, with an extra £3 billion (€3.6 billion) forecast for defence spending.

Other Budget developments include:

• A 6.7% increase in the minimum wage – confirmed by Reeves – meaning it will rise to £12.21 (or €14.67) an hour next year.
• Increases to tax including fuel duty, inheritance tax and capital gains tax are reportedly under consideration.
• Labour has promised not to increase the headline taxes on the pay cheques of “working people”: national insurance, VAT and income tax.
• The £2 (€2.40) cap on bus fares across England will rise to £3 (€3.61).

The funding will also be used to buy weapons, with the aim of replenishing stockpiles depleted by donations to Ukraine.

A pathway to increasing defence spending to 2.5% of national economic output demanded by the Tories will not be in the Budget.

Reeves will make history as the UK’s first female Chancellor when she delivers the Budget in the Commons today.

In her speech, she is expected to say the “prize on offer” is “immense”, and she will lay out new funding to cut hospital waiting lists, pave the way for more affordable homes and rebuild crumbling schools.

The truth is, we inherited a mess.

I’m prepared to take the tough decisions necessary to grow our economy and deliver the promise of change.

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— Rachel Reeves (@RachelReevesMP)

October 29, 2024

Reeves will add: “More pounds in people’s pockets. An NHS that is there when you need it. An economy that is growing, creating wealth and opportunity for all. Because that is the only way to improve living standards.”

Harking back to the previous Labour governments of Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson and Tony Blair, Reeves will say it is “not the first time that it has fallen to the Labour Party to rebuild Britain”.

Alongside its Budget analysis, fiscal watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will publish a report on the Conservatives’ legacy in government, which is expected to account for the so-called £22 billion “black hole” in the public finances.

Shadow chancellor Jeremy Hunt is contesting the report, claiming in a letter to top civil servant Simon Case that the OBR risks “straying into political territory and failing to follow due process”.