LONDON (Reuters) -British finance minister Rachel Reeves announced her budget update to parliament on Wednesday.
Below are the quotes on the key issues:
REEVES ON GLOBAL UNCERTAINTY
“The global economy has become more uncertain.”
“The increased global uncertainty has had two consequences. First, on our public finances. And second, on the economy.”
REEVES ON FISCAL RULES
“These fiscal rules are non-negotiable. They are the embodiment of this government’s unwavering commitment to bring stability to our economy.”
REEVES ON NO FURTHER TAX INCREASES
“As I promised in the autumn, this statement does not contain any further tax increases.”
REEVES ON CAPITAL SPENDING
“I am instead increasing capital spending by an average of 2 billion pounds per year compared to the Autumn to drive growth in our economy and deliver in full our vital commitments on defence.”
REEVES ON DAY TO DAY SPENDING
“Overall, day-to-day spending will be reduced by 6.1 billion pounds by 2029-30 and it will now grow by an average of 1.2% a year above inflation compared to 1.3% in the Autumn.”
REEVES ON WELFARE BUDGET
“The OBR have said that they estimate the package will save 4.8 billion pounds in the welfare budget reflecting their judgements on behavioural effects and wider factors.”
“We are investing 1 billion pounds to provide guaranteed, personalised employment support to help people back into work and 400 million pounds to support the Department for Work and Pensions to deliver these reforms effectively and fairly taking total savings from the package to 3.4 billion pounds.”
REEVES ON DEFENCE SPENDING
“We will spend a minimum of 10% of the Ministry of Defence’s equipment budget on novel technologies including drones and AI enabled technology.”
“The Defence Secretary and I will establish a new Defence Growth Board to maximise the benefits from every pound of taxpayers’ money that we spend. And we will put Defence at the heart of our modern industrial strategy to drive innovation that can deliver huge benefits back into the British economy.”
REEVES ON HOUSE BUILDING
“The OBR have concluded that our reforms will lead to housebuilding reaching a forty year high of 305,000 by the end of the forecast period. And changes to the National Planning Policy Framework alone will help build over 1.3 million homes in the UK over the next five years.”
REEVES ON INFLATION
“The OBR forecast that CPI inflation will average 3.2% this year, before falling rapidly to 2.1% in 2026 and meeting the 2% target from 2027 onwards, giving families and businesses the security that they need and providing our economy with the stable platform it needs to grow.”
REEVES ON REFORMING PUBLIC SERVICES
“I build on that work by bringing forward 3.25 billion pounds of investment to deliver the reforms that our public services need through a new Transformation Fund. That is money brought forward now to bring down the costs of running government by the end of the forecast period.”
REEVES ON LIVING STANDARDS
“I am pleased that the OBR confirm today that Real Household Disposable Income will now grow this year at almost twice the rate expected in the autumn. And living standards will rise twice as fast this parliament compared to the last.”
REEVES ON TAX EVASION
“To cut down on tax evasion…I go further continuing our investment in cutting-edge technology, investing in HMRC’s capacity to crack down on tax avoidance and setting out plans to increase the number of tax fraudsters charged each year by 20%. These changes raise a further 1 billion pounds ($1.29 billion)taking total revenue raised from reducing tax evasion under this government to 7.5 billion pounds.”
($1 = 0.7753 pounds)
(Reporting by UK bureau)
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