Healey Hires Labour's Manifesto Author a Month Before the Budget
Ravinder Athwal, who wrote the 2024 manifesto and devised the five missions, joins the Chancellor next week as his senior special adviser, a month before the Budget on 28 October. Inflation and borrowing costs are expected to have wiped out at least half the headroom set out in the spring, leaving the buffer well below £24bn. Treasury officials are working “at pace” on help for households, with the energy price cap expected to rise sharply in January.
The appointment reads as a signal about what kind of Budget this is meant to be. Rachel Reeves raised taxes by some £70bn a year across two Budgets and spent the political capital that went with them; those close to Mr Healey say he wants a “focused” one, and hiring the person who wrote the manifesto suggests the aim is to tie fiscal choices back to promises voters recognise. The constraint is not rhetorical. Oil above $100 and gilts near nineteen-year highs are doing the work of a tax rise without any of the credit, and the January cap increase will land before any Budget measure can take effect. Watch whether the consumer support announced is targeted or universal — the Treasury has already ruled out the blanket approach of 2022.