Healey Warns of Budget Cuts to Fund Burnham's Pledges
The Chancellor, John Healey, has warned cabinet colleagues to brace for spending cuts in the autumn Budget to help pay for Andy Burnham’s costly promises, according to reports. The warning, days after the Budget was set for late October, points to the hard choices facing a government that has pledged more on devolution, social care and defence. Ministers have been reluctant to spell out how the sums add up.
Mr Healey’s reported caution is a reminder that the new Prime Minister’s activist agenda collides with strained public finances, sluggish growth and elevated borrowing costs. Every fresh commitment — letting mayors keep a share of income tax, reforming care, renewing the deterrent — must be funded from a budget already under pressure. The prospect of cuts to pay for new priorities risks unsettling Labour backbenchers barely a fortnight into the government. The October statement is shaping up as an early defining test. Watch which departments are asked to give ground.