CX Confirms Budget 30 Oct, 'Difficult Decisions On Spending, Welfare & Tax'

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has confirmed that the first budget for the Starmer gov't will take place on Wednesday 30 October. She says that the 'budget will involve difficult decisions on spending, welfare and tax'. Confirms that she will not increase income tax, national insurance contributions, or VAT (broad speculation is that capital gains tax will be raised to income tax levels).

• Reeves confims that a muti-year spending review will take place. Also says that the fiscal framework for the UK will be changes. The Treasury will be required to share with the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) immediate public spending pressures. Spending reviews will take place every two years with a three year horizon.
• The chancellor's tone appears intended to present a gov't inheriting a very difficult fiscal legacy. In Reeves' statement she frequently states "if we cannot afford it, we cannot do it".
• Amid a number of cost-cutting measures, Reeves scraps former PM Rishi Sunak's plans to reform A-Levels, end the winter fuel payment for those not recieving pension credit (an unexpected move that will be seen as a strong effort to display fiscal discipline), and halt plans for new roads and railway upgrades.