Watch again as Rachel Reeves delivered her much-anticipated spending review on Wednesday (11 June) as the chancellor pledged to make working people “better off”.
The spending review came after the government announced a massive expansion of who will receive winter fuel payments in a major U-turn following months of backlash.
After weeks of speculation over what the changes would look like, it has now been confirmed that 9 million pensions will be eligible for the payment - a huge uplift from the 1.5 million pensioners who received the payment in winter 2024-25.
The chancellor stood in the Commons to deliver the government’s spending review on Wednesday.
Some of the announcements have already been made over the last few weeks, but were formally presented to parliament.
Reeves was expected to announce:
- A £30 billion increase in NHS funding, a rise of around 2.8 per cent in real terms.
- An extra £4.5 billion for schools.
- A rise in defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP.
- £39 billion for social and affordable housing over the next decade as the Government aims to meet its target of building 1.5 million new homes by the next election.
- £15.6 billion of spending on public transport in England’s city regions
- £16.7 billion for nuclear power projects, the bulk of which will fund the new Sizewell C plant in Suffolk.
- An extension of the £3 bus fare cap until March 2027.
- An extra £445 million for upgrading Welsh railways.
- The Government has also promised £750 million for a new supercomputer – the UK’s most powerful – in Edinburgh.
