{"id":83036,"date":"2025-06-11T13:22:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T12:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=83036"},"modified":"2025-06-11T13:22:34","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T12:22:34","slug":"reeves-spending-review-contemporaneous-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2025\/06\/11\/reeves-spending-review-contemporaneous-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"Reeves Spending Review – contemporaneous notes"},"content":{"rendered":"

These are my contemporaneous \u00a0notes made as Reeves spoke on her Spending Review this lunchtime. I stress - they were just notes - nothing more, but they do include some commentary - and I found nothing to celebrate.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

An analysis will be available later.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

She want to make people better off<\/p>\n

So she starts with \u00a322 billion Tory hole<\/p>\n

And she pretends she has solved all the problems<\/p>\n

Most of her claimed have not come close to happening<\/p>\n

She claims it has<\/p>\n

She claims interest rate cuts are hers to take credit for<\/p>\n

She claims we have a trade deal with the US - is she mad?<\/p>\n

Wants to deliver renewal for everyone<\/p>\n

Security is key, apparently<\/p>\n

2.3% total spending increases in real terms, she says<\/p>\n

But that is total - \u00a3113 billion is CDEL<\/p>\n

She says there is no austerity<\/p>\n

BUT allocation is not clear as yet<\/p>\n

She claims she has a better fiscal rule - she says they are non-negotiable - but she has already changed them once<\/p>\n

And spending is not funded by tax receipts as there are lost of other receipts<\/p>\n

She says extra capital is \u00a3113 billion - but the Tories planned \u00a390 billion of that. She cannot claim it all.<\/p>\n

The household analogy is out in force - the government has no money of its own<\/p>\n

Stop playing Reform politics<\/p>\n

National security is her number 1 concern - and it will deliver nothing in to people\u2019s pockets.<\/p>\n

2.6% for defence. \u00a311 billion for defence and \u00a3600 million for security services.<\/p>\n

\u00a34.5 billion \u2018investment\u2019 in munitions. How is tat investment?<\/p>\n

We are going to be a \u2018defence industrial super power\u2019.<\/p>\n

The military industrial complex rules.<\/p>\n

Now to small boats. Border security to now be \u00a3430 million a year<\/p>\n

Asylum backlog to be cleared - at a cost of unknown sum supposedly saving \u00a31 billion a year - but no explanation of how. Hotel use will end.<\/p>\n

Securenomics - where things are made matters. Apparently the Tories inflated global gas prices - total ignorance of how energy is priced in the UK<\/p>\n

\u00a330 billion for nuclear<\/p>\n

\u00a314 billion for Sizewell<\/p>\n

The rest - \u00a32.5 billion for small modular reactors<\/p>\n

And many more to come. How does this add up?<\/p>\n

Expanding Sellafield - at what cost?<\/p>\n

We need to be at the forefront of the global race for new nuclear technologies.<\/p>\n

\u00a32.5 billion fusion.<\/p>\n

Carbon capture and storage gets some more money - how much is not clear - not said.<\/p>\n

Great British Energy - a private equity fund - is to get more money and it delivers no energy at all<\/p>\n

No mention of renewables at all. None!<\/p>\n

Scunthorpe saved - but Port Talbot wasn\u2019t and nor was Grangemouth - no explanation for that.<\/p>\n

She refers to our great country - which clearly means England.<\/p>\n

She implies all the steel we will now use will come from the UK - which is utter nonsense.<\/p>\n

She did finally mention Port Talbot.<\/p>\n

Innovation - our universities are world leading and we\u2019re proud of them. So what will happen those that go bust? \u00a322 billion for R&D - means what?<\/p>\n

\u00a32 billion for AI action plan - means what?<\/p>\n

Increasing British Business Bank - loans up to \u00a325 billion - again, means what?<\/p>\n

Young people - we only need builders and engineers apparently. This is absurd. Providing \u00a31.2 billion a year by 2035 for this - so sweet FA in reality now.<\/p>\n

Cheapo jokes about Badenoch do not help.<\/p>\n

Homes - planning reforms allow building - and environmental destruction - and we need social housing - so it will get \u00a339 billion - biggest injection in 50 years (not hard when inflation is ignored)<\/p>\n

This does not support building - it supports builders<\/p>\n

Now \u00a310 billion for Homes England - not at all clear what this means<\/p>\n

On to transport - \u00a315 billion for this, including Doncaster airport to ave Miliband\u2019s seat<\/p>\n

This pot of \u00a315 billion is apparently limitless - includes raul electrification that has already been done<\/p>\n

Norther PowerHouse Rail will get more money - no idea what<\/p>\n

Oxford will be connected by \u00a32.5 billion to Cambridge<\/p>\n

Wales - \u00a3445 million for rail in Wales over 10 years<\/p>\n

Nothing for Scotland it seems\u2026.<\/p>\n

\u00a352 billion for Scotland - bit over a decade<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t spend it all at once<\/p>\n

Retail - 350 communities to get funding for parks, youth facilities and libraries - just properly fund local councils and don\u2019t make it funds to bid for<\/p>\n

Growth Mission Fund - Southport pier to benefit<\/p>\n

Police - prisons. \u00a37 billion for prisons. Half of the transport budget. Crazy.<\/p>\n

\u00a32 billion for the police.<\/p>\n

She claims credit for falling interest rates again. She has accepted public sector pay awards. She ignores the doctors.<\/p>\n

\u00a33 bus far cap is not a spending review issue.<\/p>\n

Now she is scraping the barrel. Say she will upgrade millions of homes - no figure attached.<\/p>\n

Taxpayer money claim made - there is no such thing as taxpayer money.<\/p>\n

Savings - fewer paper clips. Sales of land. Waste will go - no figures.<\/p>\n

Yet more political diatribe. She really knows how to alienate people.<\/p>\n

Apparently state school children can only be supported by adding VAT to private schools - an opportunity now closed. And free school meals are not an education issue - they are a poverty issue. She is wildly confusing the two.<\/p>\n

She says she will beat child poverty but no mention of the two child cap. She is not doing what is absolutely necessary<\/p>\n

Apparently dormant asset fund has to be dredged for money for music and arts education - of \u00a3150 million<\/p>\n

\u00a34.5 billion extra a year by 2035<\/p>\n

\u00a32.3 billion a year for school rebuilding - hopelessly inadequate in the face of WRACS<\/p>\n

Last of all, the NHS. Lots of stupid comments on Reform. Absurd claims made about improved performance. Word salad is being delivered by the bucket load.<\/p>\n

Claims she is training more GPs whilst ignoring the fact that very large numbers are now unemployed as the NHS will not give them jobs. This is incoherent nonsense.<\/p>\n

Claims record cash investment - 3% - but this is below 3.6% trend this century - so it is only a record in cash terms - which she carefully said.<\/p>\n

Yet more nonsense.<\/p>\n

The summary is embarrassing given what we know of Labour performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These are my contemporaneous \u00a0notes made as Reeves spoke on her Spending Review this lunchtime. I stress – they were just notes – nothing more,
Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127,204,35,118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-budget","category-economic-justice","category-economics","category-labour"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83036"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83037,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83036\/revisions\/83037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}