Tag: Rachel Reeves

The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 23 June 2026.

Jonathan Haskel is an outstanding nominee for Chair. His depth of expertise in economics and his track record of independent, rigorous analysis make him exactly the right person to lead the OBR – supporting the credibility of our fiscal framework and ensuring our economy is underpinned by sound public finances.

The statement made by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons on 5 January 2026.

I have asked the Office for Budget Responsibility to prepare an economic and fiscal forecast for publication on 3 March 2026.

This forecast, in addition to the forecast that was published in November 2025, will fulfil the obligation required by the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011 for the OBR to produce at least two forecasts in a financial year.

As set out at the Budget, the spring forecast will not make an assessment of the Government’s performance against the fiscal mandate and will provide an interim update on the economy and public finances.

The Government intend to respond to this with a statement to Parliament. This is in line with my commitment to deliver one major fiscal event a year at the Budget. This approach gives families and businesses the stability and certainty they need and, in turn, will support the Government’s growth mission.

The speech made by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, at the Mansion House in London on 15 July 2025.

Lord Mayor, Governor, Ladies and Gentlemen.

My thanks go to the City of London Corporation for hosting us here this evening…

…and to the Lord Mayor for his address…

…as well as to the Economic Secretary to the Treasury for all her hard work.

It is a year since my party was elected to office…

…and year since I was appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Recently, on a visit to a primary school, a young girl asked me –

“if you could have any job in the world, what would it be?”

Given the events of the last few weeks, I suspect many of you would have sympathised if I had said –

“anything but the Chancellor.”

But I didn’t.

Because I am proud to stand here tonight and address you for a second time at Mansion House…

…as the Chancellor of Exchequer.

This evening, I want to talk about the progress we have made over the past year:

Restoring stability;

Securing investment;

And delivering reform.

And I want to talk about the future:

The economy that we are building;

The opportunities that we are seizing;

And the prosperity that we together are creating.

In my Mais lecture last year, I talked about how a resilient economy must be built on security.

And the importance of that security has been brought into sharp focus in recent months.

As the world changes before our eyes, and global economies are becoming more uncertain.

The job of a responsible government is not just to watch this change –

We must step up, not step back.

We must build a dynamic economy on strong and secure foundations…

…where success is not limited to a handful of sectors, a few people, or certain parts of the country…

…but where the rewards of hard work are shared…

…harnessing the contribution of every part of Britain.

This is the foundation of an economy and a country that is more active and more confident…

…where people and business look to the future and talk about hope…

…talk about opportunity…

…assured of their own capability, and of the ability of our country to boldly face the challenges ahead…

…and certain in the prize when they succeed:

Of higher wages and higher living standards;

The renewal of Britain in every home and every high street.

To put it simply: a Britain that is better off.

The financial services sector is critical to my ambitions for our country.

It is one of the largest and most successful sectors in the UK…

…worth around 10% of total economic output…

…and supporting 1.2 million jobs in clusters right around the UK:

In Cardiff, and Belfast and Edinburgh where we have growing Fintechs;

In Manchester, where BNY have their new Angel Square hub;

And in London, the financial centre of the world.

And financial services is also critical in people’s everyday lives:

Whether that’s a couple looking to buy their first home;

A budding entrepreneur wanting to start  their first business;

Or people getting more out of the money they’re putting aside for the future.

And that’s what these plans, that I will set out tonight, will deliver.

Growth must be built on a platform of economic stability.

When we came into office…

…it was our government, this government, that restored Britain’s reputation as a beacon of stability by putting the public finances back on a firm footing…

…getting debt on a downward path, while investing prudently alongside business.

That was – and still is – the right choice…

…because there is nothing progressive about a government that simply spends more and more each year on debt interest, instead of on the priorities of ordinary working people.

And fiscal stability is a choice that reflects economic reality.

National debt remains at its highest level since the 1960s…

…and globally, the cost of borrowing has increased in recent years.

This is not the inheritance that I would have chosen…

…but it is the reality.

And that is why the Prime Minister, and I and this government are remain committed to our non-negotiable fiscal rules.

The stability that we have restored is already delivering:

Four cuts in interest rates by the Bank of England since the General Election, reducing the cost of mortgages and business lending;

And investment is returning to our economy.

At the Spending Review, I set out £120 billion of public investment over the next five years…

…and last month, the Prime Minister confirmed that the UK has attracted £120 billion of private investment – in just the last 12 months.

In a globally competitive market…

…firms all over the world are choosing to invest in Britain…

…as one of the best places to start up, to scale up and to list:

The FTSE is at an all-time high, today, for the first time ever, breaking 9000 points;

London is home to the deepest equity capital market in Europe;

It is the third biggest venture capital market globally;

And the London Stock Exchange is the most international in the world…

…with the FTSE soon to include shares listed not just in sterling but also in dollars and in euros.

Last year, to ensure the UK remains competitive, we made significant changes to the listing regime…

…for example, relaxing dual class share rules to give founders flexibility to pursue their growth ambitions.

The FCA have today published their final Prospectus Rules…

…simplifying the listing and capital raising processes for firms of all sizes.

And, as I committed to last year at Mansion House, we are delivering PISCES…

…a brand-new type of stock exchange for private company share trading…

…with the first trading events due to take place later this year.

And I am announcing a new Listings Taskforce with the Office for Investment…

…to attract the best businesses in the world to IPO here in London.

But we must do more to ensure that British savers benefit from the success of growing British businesses.

Last year at Mansion House, I set out an overhaul of our pensions system…

…and the Pension Schemes Bill, led by my colleague the Pensions Minister, will be signed into law in the next few months.

The creation of Defined Contribution and Local Government Pension Scheme megafunds…

…will mean larger and more powerful pots of funding invested productively across the country.

Pension funds, and this government, are united in our determination to deliver higher returns for savers and more investment in the economy.

That is why, since last year, funds covering the majority of the Defined Contribution market have committed to the Mansion House Accord…

…pledging to invest at least 10% of their main funds into private assets such as infrastructure and growth markets…

… with at least half of that going into UK projects.

And I would also like to congratulate the Lord Mayor on his employer pension pledge…

I am delighted, Lord Mayor, to see businesses such as Tesco, First Group and Octopus making this commitment…

…and like you Lord Mayor I look forward to seeing more companies joining up.

The UK economy is enhanced by its outward-facing approach…

…and this year we have built on that with our new trade deals:

A trade deal with the United States, where we were the first country to sign a deal so that British businesses are better protected against tariffs, and where we have worked with our G7 colleagues to avert new taxes.

I’m pleased to welcome US Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hester Peirce here tonight…

…who is driving forward proposals for greater digital collaboration between our two financial centres. Thank you for being here.

And a trade deal with the European Union, where our strategic partnership will slash red tape and reduce costs for business…

…as well as providing a platform to further deepen our relationship in future.

And I am pleased to welcome the European Union’s Financial Services Commissioner Maria Luis Albuquerque.

Maria Luis, we met earlier today to discuss our continued cooperation on financial services, and I look forward to working more closely with you.

And a trade deal with India, with whom our recent FTA agreement will give us the best trading relationship of any country in the world with India.

And we have concluded the first Economic and Financial Dialogue with China in six years.

And we are implementing the Berne Financial Services Agreement with Switzerland too.

At the G20 in South Africa later this week I will continue the call I made at the IMF Spring meetings –

…for countries to come together to tackle trade imbalances and drive growth…

…underpinned by stronger multilateral institutions.

I look forward to hearing more on this from the Governor in his address…

…and I would like to congratulate him on his recent appointment as Chair of the Financial Stability Board…

…a testament to both Andrew and this government’s commitment to international standards.

Britain is open for business;

Open for trade;

Open for investment.

And that’s why we must be willing to change how we do things to stay competitive in that global economy.

We have ripped up the planning rules;

We have swept away regulations;

We have published our industrial strategy;

And today we can go further, by announcing the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy…

…including my Leeds Reforms…

…named after one of the UK’s great hubs for financial services…

…and the city that I have been proud to represent as a Member of Parliament for fifteen years.

These are the most wide-ranging package of reforms to financial services regulation in more than a decade.

At Mansion House last year, I said we must regulate for growth and not just for risk…

…and we are delivering on that commitment…

…while continuing to protect financial stability…

…so that the benefits of a thriving and growing financial services sector can be realised for people all over Britain.

Let me set out the details of that package in four parts:

First, I am rolling back regulation that has gone too far in seeking to eliminate risk;

Second, I am delivering targeted changes in the areas where the UK already has particular strengths;

Third, I am making changes to capital requirements to unlock more productive capital;

And fourth, I am introducing measures to boost retail investment so that more savers can reap the benefits of UK economic success.

I will begin with the biggest reforms.

As I promised last year, I am delivering the most significant reform to the Financial Ombudsman Service since its inception…

…including proposing to limit for ten years for claims.

This will speed up the time it takes for consumers to get redress for their complaints…

… returning it to its original purpose as a simple, impartial arbitration service…

…and ensuring that it no longer acts as a quasi-regulator.

And I welcome the announcement today, made by the Financial Ombudsman Service that will reduce the interest rate it applies before a decision from 8% to base rate plus 1%.

I am introducing new targets for the FCA and PRA to cut times on authorisations and approvals…

…and I have tasked the FCA with assessing the impact of the Consumer Duty and whether it unduly effects wholesale activity…

…to ensure that regulators are really regulating for growth.

And I am streamlining the Senior Managers and Certification Regime…

…reducing the burdens it imposes on firms by 50%…

…and slashing approval timelines…

…so you can bring in talent to your business more quickly.

My next set of reforms provide targeted regulatory support to the areas where the UK does already have a comparative advantage.

For insurance – where Britain is the destination of choice for underwriting complex, specialised and high-value risk…

…I am introducing a new competitive framework for captive insurance.

For asset management – where the UK is the world’s second largest centre…

…I am futureproofing the regulatory regime and will publish draft legislation in early 2026.

For sustainable finance, I am determined to focus our efforts on policies that matter most to our world-leading sector and support investment in the transition…

…so, after consultation and consideration, I have decided not to pursue a green taxonomy…

…but instead work with regulators through the Transition Finance Council to capitalise on the £200 billion opportunity of the global transition to net zero.

And for Fintech – where almost half of Europe’s Fintech’s are already based here in the UK…

…the PRA and FCA are launching a scale-up unit to support innovative firms to grow in the UK, including in our world-leading payments system.

And I will drive forward developments in blockchain technology…

…including tokenised securities and stablecoins…

…and an ambitious design for a new digital gilt instrument…

…so that UK financial services can be at the forefront of digital asset innovation.

And because I believe the UK is the best place in the world for financial services…

…today I’ve announced the Office for Investment’s new concierge service.

Launching by October this year, it will provide a tailored service to companies considering setting up and expanding in the UK…

…and I am grateful to Chris Hayward from the City of London Corporation, for his work to drive this forward.

Thank you Chris.

Now, let me turn to the changes I am making to capital requirements…

…to allow UK banks to do more lending and release more capital for investment into our infrastructure and into our businesses.

First, I am supporting the Bank of England’s decision to raise the asset threshold for MREL requirements to between £25 and £40 billion.

This will benefit the challenger banks and bring increased competition and innovation to the market…

…and support those businesses to expand their footprint here in the UK.

Second, I am confirming our approach to Basel 3.1…

…implementing lower capital requirements for domestically focussed banks from January 2027…

…while preserving flexibility on our approach for international banks to ensure the UK always remains competitive while aligning with international standards.

Third, I have committed to meaningful reform of the UK’s ringfencing regime…

…recognising that now is the time to go further in tackling inefficiency and boosting growth…

…while retaining the aspects of the regime that support financial stability and protect consumer deposits.

And fourth, following the new, growth focussed remit letter I sent in November…

…I welcome the Financial Policy Committee’s announcement that it will review the overall level of bank capital needed for UK financial stability…

…reporting back to me by the end of this year.

The review will inform the work the Treasury is taking forward with the Bank…

…to ensure the prudential framework strikes the optimal balance to deliver resilience, growth and competitiveness.

And I welcome the recent changes the Financial Policy Committee has announced to the loan-to-income limit on mortgage lending…

…which the PRA and FCA are implementing immediately…

…that means tens of thousands more people could be able to get a mortgage in the next year alone…

…with Nationwide already offering its ‘Helping Hand’ mortgage to more first time-buyers…

…supporting alone an additional 10,000 each year.

And my thanks to Dame Debbie Crosbie for her leadership.

My final set of reforms are focussed on boosting savings investment.

I recognise the potential for ISA reform to improve returns for savers…

…and access capital for UK businesses.

I have confirmed that Long-Term Asset Funds can be included in stocks and shares ISAs…

…allowing long-term ISA investors to benefit from this innovative product.

And I will continue to consider further changes to ISAs…

…engaging widely in the coming months…

…and recognising that despite the differing views on the right approach…

…we are united in wanting better outcomes for both UK savers and for the UK economy.

For too long, we have presented investment in too negative a light…

…quick to warn people of the risks, without giving proper weight to the benefits…

…and our tangled system of financial advice and guidance…

…has meant people cannot get the right support to make decisions for themselves.

That is why we are working with the FCA to introduce a brand-new type of targeted support for consumers ahead of the new financial year.

And I also welcome the campaign to promote the benefits of retail investment which will launch next April…

…and the action to look at our current approach to risk warnings – and that will report back in January…

…and I’m grateful to Chris Cummings of the Investment Association for spearheading both of those initiatives.

Thank you very much Chris.

Today, I have placed financial services at the heart of this government’s growth mission…

…recognising that Britain cannot succeed and meet its growth ambitions…

…without a financial sector that is fighting fit and thriving.

The reforms I have set out this evening are the next chapter in how I intend to support this growth…

…and I thank Gwyneth Nurse and her brilliant team at the Treasury for all of their hard work on this package.

I knew that Gwyneth would get the biggest clap …

I am also pleased to have been able to work in lockstep with our regulators…

…and I want to extend my thanks both to Nikhil Rathi and Sam Woods for their innovation and the work they have done in response to my updated remit letters last year.

Thank you Nikhil and thank you Sam.

We have been bold in regulating for growth in financial services…

…and I have been clear on the benefits that that will drive…

…with a ripple effect felt right across all sectors of our economy…

…putting pounds in the pockets of working people.

Getting better deals on their mortgages…

better returns on their savings

and more jobs paying good wages across our country

As I look ahead…

…it is clear that we must do more.

In too many areas, regulation still acts as a boot on the neck of businesses…

…choking off the enterprise and innovation that is the lifeblood of economic growth.

Regulators in other sectors must take up the call I make this evening…

…not to bend to the temptation of excessive caution…

…but to boldly regulate for growth…

…in the service of prosperity for our whole country.

I’m really proud of how far we have come in the last year as government and as a country.

I know that the changes that we have made will reform and transform our economy and our country.

And I know that you will waste no time in seizing the opportunities that lie ahead:

To build a stronger economy;

To deliver the renewal of Britain;

And to make working people in all parts of Britain better off.

Thank you very much.

The statement made by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the House of Commons on 11 June 2025.

My driving purpose since I became Chancellor is to make working people in all parts of our country better off, to rebuild our schools and our hospitals, and to invest in our economy so that everyone has the opportunity to succeed after 14 years of mismanagement and decline by the party opposite, culminating in a £22 billion black hole in the public finances. That was the Conservatives’ legacy, and the first job I faced as Chancellor was to set it right. So at the Budget last October and again in the spring, I made the choices necessary to fix the foundations of our economy. We wasted no time in removing the barriers to growth: the biggest overhaul of our planning system in a generation; launching Britain’s first National Wealth Fund; and reforming our pensions system to unlock billions of pounds of investment into our economy.

We are starting to see the results. The stability we have provided has helped support four cuts in interest rates, saving hundreds of pounds a year for families with a mortgage. Real wages have grown by more in the first 10 months of this Labour Government than in the first 10 years of the Conservative Government. And the latest figures show that we are the fastest growing economy in the G7. Countries around the world are lining up to do business with Britain again, with new trade deals with India, the United States and the European Union.

We are renewing Britain, but I know that too many people in too many parts of our country are yet to feel it. This Government’s task, my task as Chancellor, and the purpose of this spending review is to change that—to ensure that renewal is felt in people’s everyday lives, in their jobs, and on their high streets. The priorities of this spending review are the priorities of working people: to invest in Britain’s security and Britain’s health and to grow Britain’s economy so that working people are better off.

Today, I am allocating the envelope I set out in the spring. I am enormously grateful to my excellent team of officials at the Treasury and to my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury for his tireless work throughout this process, crunching the numbers and looking at the assets and liabilities. On that note, I thank all my Cabinet colleagues for their contribution to this process—they are all assets to this Labour Government.

In this spending review, total departmental budgets will grow by 2.3% a year in real terms. Compare that to the Conservatives’ choice of austerity. In contrast to our increase of 2.3%, they cut spending by 2.9% a year in 2010. Let us be clear: austerity was a destructive choice for both the fabric of our society and our economy, choking off investment and demand and creating a lost decade for growth, wages and living standards. That is their legacy.

My choices are different. My choices are Labour choices—the choices in this spending review that are possible only because of my commitment to economic stability and the decisions this Government have made. The Conservatives’ fiscal rules guaranteed neither stability nor investment, and that is why I changed them. My fiscal rules are non-negotiable, and they are the foundation for stability and investment.

My first rule is for stability: day-to-day Government spending should be paid for through tax receipts. That is the sound economic choice. It also the fair choice, because it is not right to expect our children and future generations to pay for the services we rely on today. This first rule allows me, as I set out in the Budget, to allocate £190 billion more to the day-to-day running of our public services over the course of this spending review compared with the previous Government’s plans.

My second fiscal rule enables me to invest in Britain’s economic renewal while getting public debt on a downward path. This rule allowed me to increase public investment by more than £100 billion in the autumn and a further £13 billion in the spring. That is investment to rebuild our transport networks, our defence capability and our energy security—in short, to grow our economy.

I have made my choices: tough decisions for stability and changing Britain’s fiscal rules for investment. Today, I am delivering that investment for the renewal of Britain. Now, it is time for the parties opposite to make their choices. The spending plans I am setting out today are possible only because of the decisions I took in the autumn to raise taxes and the changes to our fiscal rules, every one of which was opposed by the parties opposite. Today, they can make an honest choice and oppose these spending plans as they opposed every penny I raised to fund them, or they can make the same choice as Liz Truss: spend more and borrow more, with no regard for the consequences.

In their clamour to cut taxes for the richest, the Conservatives crashed our economy, sent mortgage rates spiralling and put our pensions in peril. I will never take those risks. Yet Reform is itching to do the same thing all over again. The hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) may be playing the friend of the workers now, but some of us are old enough to remember when he described the disastrous Liz Truss Budget as “the best Conservative Budget” since the 1980s. [Interruption.] Mr Speaker, after the damage is done, he still nods along. Reform has learned nothing. His party has been in Parliament for less than a year, yet it has already racked up £80 billion of unfunded commitments. Reform is simply not serious. Every day it becomes clearer that it is Labour—and only Labour—that has a credible plan for the renewal of Britain.

As I said in my spring statement, the world is changing before our eyes. Since the spring, the challenges that we face have become even more acute. The signs of our age of insecurity are everywhere, so we are acting on the promise in our plan for change: building renewal on the foundations of national security, border security and economic security. As the Prime Minister said earlier this month,

“A new era in the threats that we face demands a new era for defence and security.”

That is why we took the decision to prioritise our defence spending by reducing overseas development aid. Defence spending will now rise to 2.6% of GDP by April 2027, including the contribution of our intelligence agencies. That uplift provides funding for my right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary, with an £11 billion increase in defence spending and a £600 million uplift for our security and intelligence agencies. That investment will deliver not only security, but renewal in Aldermaston and Lincoln; in Portsmouth and Filton; on the Clyde and in Rosyth. Investment in Scotland, jobs in Scotland, and defence for the United Kingdom—opposed by the Scottish National party; delivered by this Labour Government.

Investing in our armed forces, our military technology and our supply chains also brings huge opportunities: £4.5 billion of investment in munitions, made in factories from Glasgow to Glascoed, Stevenage to Radway Green; and over £6 billion to upgrade our nuclear submarine production, supporting thousands of jobs across Barrow, Derby and Sheffield. We will make Britain a defence industrial superpower, with the jobs, the skills and the pride that come with that.

A more unstable world presents new challenges at our borders too. Conflict has opened the way for organised criminal gangs. The British people rightly expect us to have control of who comes into our country. The Conservatives said that they would “take back control”. Well, Mr Speaker, they lost control. With one failed policy after another, there was no control and no security. In contrast, in the Budget last year I announced £150 million to establish the new Border Security Command, and today, to support the integrity of our borders, I can announce that that funding will increase, with up to £280 million more per year by the end of the spending review period for our new Border Security Command.

Alongside that, we are tackling the asylum backlog. The Conservative party left behind a broken system: billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money spent on housing asylum seekers in hotels, leaving people in limbo and shunting the cost of failure on to local communities. We will not let that stand. I can confirm today that, led by the work of my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, we will be ending the costly use of hotels to house asylum seekers in this Parliament. Funding that I have provided today, including from the transformation fund, will cut the asylum backlog; allow more appeal cases to be heard; and return people who have no right to be here, saving the taxpayer £1 billion per year. That is my choice, that is Labour’s choice, that is the choice of the British people.

If we want national security in a dangerous world, that does not stop at the strength of our armed forces or at our borders. I have long spoken about what I call “securonomics”—the basic insight that, in an age of insecurity, Government must step up to provide security for working people and resilience for our national economy. Put simply: where things are made, and who makes them, matters.

Take energy: the Tories neglected our nuclear and renewables sectors and closed our gas storage facilities, leaving us exposed to hikes in energy prices when Russia invaded Ukraine, and it was working people who paid the price for their mistakes. Labour understands that energy security is national security. Because it is the right choice for bills, jobs and growth, this Government are investing in the biggest roll-out of nuclear power for half a century, with a £30 billion commitment to our nuclear-powered future.

Yesterday my right hon. Friend the Energy Secretary and I announced £14 billion for Sizewell C, which will produce energy to power 6 million homes and support more than 10,000 jobs, including 1,500 apprenticeships, in order to build the nuclear workforce of tomorrow. That is not all. We are investing over £2.5 billion in a new small modular reactor programme. Our preferred partner is Rolls-Royce—a great British company based in Derby. This investment is just one step towards our ambition for a full fleet of small modular reactors, and it provides a route for private sector-led advanced modular reactor projects to be deployed across the UK.

Alongside these actions, we are making nuclear-approved land available in Sellafield to attract private investment and create thousands more jobs. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Whitehaven and Workington (Josh MacAlister) for his work in this area. To strengthen Britain’s position at the forefront of a global race for new nuclear technologies—a cause championed by Mayor of the East Midlands Claire Ward and my hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw (Jo White)—and to support pioneering work taking place in West Burton in Nottinghamshire, we are investing over £2.5 billion in our nuclear future.

To back British industries, pioneering work in carbon capture, usage and storage will take place. Last year we announced funding for two sites, one on Merseyside and one in Teesside, where we are building the world’s first commercial-scale CCUS plant. Today I can announce support for the Acorn project in Aberdeenshire to support Scotland’s transition from oil and gas to low-carbon technology—a challenge and an opportunity well understood by the leader of Scottish Labour Anas Sarwar and my right hon. Friend the Scotland Secretary. We are also backing the Viking project in Humberside—a cause long supported by my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn).

Because I am determined to ensure that the energy technologies of the future are built here and owned here and that jobs come to Britain, this spending review invests in the wholly publicly owned Great British Energy, headquartered in Scotland. These investments will ensure that the towns and cities that powered the last industrial revolution play their part in our next industrial revolution. Reducing our reliance on overseas oil and gas, protecting working families from price shocks, and a new generation of energy industries for a renewed Britain—that is my choice, that is Labour’s choice, that is the choice of the British people.

Economic security relies on our ability to buy, make and sell more here in Britain. In April, this Government faced a choice: to let British Steel in Scunthorpe go under or to intervene. [Interruption.] That choice was a choice not of the metal trader but of this Labour Government. We heard representations from workers, trade unions and my hon. Friend the Member for Scunthorpe (Sir Nicholas Dakin). My right hon. Friend the Business Secretary and I were not prepared to tolerate a situation in which Britain’s steel capacity was fatally undermined. We were not prepared to see another working-class community lose the pride, prosperity and dignity that industry provides, so we did intervene to save British Steel and the jobs that come with it, and I am proud of that decision.

The Government will invest in Scunthorpe’s long-term future and the future of steelworks across our great country. In a vote of confidence in our home-grown steel, Heathrow airport, where we are backing London by backing a third runway, has signed the UK steel charter—a multibillion-pound airport expansion backed by Labour and built with British steel.

Building our train and tram lines, our military hardware and our new power stations will mean orders for steel made in Britain at Sheffield Forgemasters, where we are investing in nuclear-grade steel, and in Port Talbot, where the spending review confirms the £500 million grant to Tata Steel. A future for British-made steel and a proud future for Britain’s steel communities. Things built to last, built here in Britain—that is my choice, that is Labour’s choice, that is the choice of the British people.

This Labour Government are backing British business. There will be more to come in the weeks ahead with our 10-year infrastructure strategy and our modern industrial strategy: a plan drawn up in partnership with businesses and trade unions. When I speak to businesspeople and entrepreneurs about what they need to succeed, they say that they need the chance to innovate, they need access to finance and they need a deep pool of talent. We have heard that message, and today we are taking action.

First, on innovation, which is a great British strength. Our universities are world-leading, and we are proud of them. We want our high-tech industries in Britain to continue to lead the world in years to come in car production, in aerospace and in life sciences, so we are backing our innovators, backing our researchers and backing our entrepreneurs with research and development funding rising to a record high of £22 billion a year by the end of the spending review. Because home-grown artificial intelligence has the potential to solve diverse and daunting challenges, as well as the opportunity for good jobs and investment here in Britain, I am announcing £2 billion to back the Government’s AI action plan overseen by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Secondly, to champion those small businesses seeking access to finance as they look to grow, I am increasing the financial firepower of the British Business Bank with a two thirds increase in its investments, increasing its overall financial capacity to £25.6 billion to help pioneering businesses to start up and scale up, backing Britain’s entrepreneurs and backing Britain’s wealth creators.

Thirdly, as we invest, if we are to thrive in the industries of the future, we must give our young people the skills they need to contribute to our national success as scientists, engineers and designers, and as builders, welders and electricians. I know the ambition, the drive and the potential of our young people; it cannot be right that too often those ambitions and that potential are stifled. Young people who want training find courses are oversubscribed and are turned away at the door, forcing growing businesses, eager to recruit that talent, to look elsewhere—potential wasted and enterprise frustrated. So today I am providing record investment for training and upskilling with £1.2 billion a year by the end of the spending review to support over a million young people into training and apprenticeships so that their potential, their drive and their ambition is frustrated no longer.

On the subject of skills, we should all recognise the Leader of the Opposition’s own commitment to lifelong learning. At the weekend, she promised to learn and “get better” on the job. I am sure that Opposition Members will be supporting her in that endeavour. Good luck with that.

As we build a strong, secure and resilient economy, working people must feel the benefits. That starts with the security of a proper home. Our planning reforms have opened up the opportunity to build. Now, we must act to make the most of those opportunities, and a plan to match the scale of the housing crisis must include social housing, which has been neglected for too many decades, but not by this Labour Government. So, led by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister, we are taking action. I am proud to announce the biggest cash injection into social and affordable housing in 50 years with a new affordable homes programme in which I am investing £39 billion over the next decade—direct Government funding that will support house building, especially for social rent. I am pleased to report that towns and cities including Blackpool, Preston, Sheffield and Swindon already have plans to bring forward bids to build those homes in their communities.

I have gone further. Last autumn, I enabled greater use of financial transactions to support investments in our infrastructure alongside strict guardrails that ensure that money is spent wisely through our public financial institutions. So, in line with that commitment, I am providing an additional £10 billion for financial investments, including to be delivered through Homes England, to crowd in private investment and unlock hundreds of thousands more homes. Homes built by a Labour Government; homes built for working people.

But it is no good investing in new skills, new jobs and new homes if they are not properly connected. That is why last week, with the support of my right hon. Friend the Transport Secretary, I announced £15 billion of investment to connect our cities and our towns—the biggest ever investment of its kind—with investments in buses in Rochdale, train stations in Merseyside and Middlesbrough, mass transit in West Yorkshire and metro extensions in Birmingham, Tyne and Wear and Stockport. Alongside that, we are backing Doncaster airport.

Today, I am announcing a four-year settlement for Transport for London to provide certainty and stability for our largest local transport network to plan for the future. For other regions in the UK, I am today providing for a fourfold increase in local transport grants by the end of this Parliament to make the improvements put off for far too long, to improve the journeys that people make every day.

To unlock the potential of all parts of Britain, we are going further by investing in major rail projects to connect our towns and cities. In October, I announced funding for the trans-Pennine route upgrade—the backbone of rail travel in the north, linking York, Leeds and Manchester—with a quarter of that route expected to be electrified by this summer. I know the commitment of my hon. Friends the Members for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal), for York Outer (Mr Charters) and for Colne Valley (Paul Davies) to this issue, and today I can announce a further £3.5 billion of investment for that route. But my ambition, and the ambition of people across the north, is greater still, so in the coming weeks I will set out the Government’s plan to take forward our ambitions for Northern Powerhouse Rail.

I have also heard the representations of my hon. Friends the Members for Milton Keynes North (Chris Curtis), for Milton Keynes Central (Emily Darlington), and for Buckingham and Bletchley (Callum Anderson), and I can tell the House today that to connect Oxford and Cambridge and to back Milton Keynes’s leading tech sector I am providing a further £2.5 billion for the continued delivery of East West Rail. On a matter that I know is of great importance to my hon. Friends the Members for Lichfield (Dave Robertson), for Birmingham Northfield (Laurence Turner) and for Birmingham Erdington (Paulette Hamilton), I can announce today that I am providing funding for the midlands rail hub: the region’s biggest and most ambitious rail improvement scheme for generations, strengthening connections from Birmingham across the west midlands and into Wales, too.

For 14 years, the Conservatives failed the people of Wales. Those days are over. Following representations from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales, the First Minister of Wales, and Welsh Labour MPs, today I am pleased to announce £445 million for railways in Wales over 10 years, including new funding for Padeswood sidings and Cardiff West junction. That is the difference made by two Labour Governments, working together to undo a generation of underfunding and neglect.

This Government take seriously their commitment to investment, jobs and growth in every part of the UK. I have heard the concerns of my hon. Friends the Members for Mid Cheshire (Andrew Cooper), and for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae), and the Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, that past Governments have under-invested in towns and cities outside London and the south-east. They are right, so today I am publishing the conclusion of the review of the Treasury Green Book, which is the Government’s manual for assessing value for money. Our new Green Book will support place-based business cases, and make sure that no region has Treasury guidance wielded against it. I said that we would do things differently, and that we wanted growth in all parts of Britain, and I meant it.

Backing our nations and regions means backing our devolved Governments, and this spending review provides the largest settlement in real terms since devolution was introduced, with £52 billion for Scotland, £20 billion for Northern Ireland by the end of the spending review period, and £23 billion for Wales. Having heard representations from many Welsh Labour colleagues, and because I know the obligation that we owe to our industrial communities, I am providing a multi-year settlement of £118 million to keep coal tips safe in Wales.

I know what pride people feel in their communities—I see it everywhere I go—but I also know that, for too many people, there is a sense that something has been lost as high streets have declined, community spaces have closed, and jobs and opportunity have gone elsewhere. The renewal of Britain must be felt everywhere. Today I am pleased to announce additional funding to support up to 350 communities, especially those in the most deprived areas—funding to improve parks, youth facilities, swimming pools and libraries, and to support councils in fighting back against graffiti and fly-tipping, including in Blackpool South, Stockport, Stoke-on-Trent Central, Swindon North, and Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend.

And there is more. Job creation and community assets are vital to our growth mission, but too often, regeneration projects are held back, gathering dust in bureaucratic limbo. We are changing that. We will establish a growth mission fund to expedite local projects that are important for growth—projects such as Southport pier, an iconic symbol of coastal heritage that has stood empty since 2022; Kirkcaldy’s seafront and high street, where investment would create jobs and new business opportunities; and plans for Peterborough’s new sports quarter, to drive activity and community cohesion. People deserve a Government who share their ambition for their communities, and who deliver renewal, growth, and opportunity, and that is what you get with a Labour Government.

If people are to feel pride in their community, enjoy their public spaces, and spend time on their high streets, they must feel safe when they do so—safe in the knowledge that when people break the law, they feel the full force of the law. The Conservative party left our prisons overflowing and on the brink of collapse, and left it to us to deal with the consequences. We are taking the necessary action, so my right hon. Friend the Justice Secretary and I have announced that we are investing £7 billion to fund 14,000 new prison places, and putting up to £700 million per year into reform of the probation system. Today, I will do more. I am increasing police spending power by an average 2.3% per year in real terms over the spending review period, to protect our people, our homes and our streets. That is more than £2 billion, supporting us to meet our plan for change commitment of putting 13,000 additional police officers, police community support officers and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles across England and Wales.

I am determined that every family, as well as every place, should feel the benefits of Britain’s renewal. Falling interest rates, supported by our commitment to economic stability, are already saving many families hundreds of pounds a month on their mortgage. I have accepted pay review body recommendations for our armed forces, nurses, teachers and prison officers, giving public sector workers the fair pay rises that they deserve. In autumn, I increased the national living wage—a pay rise for around 3 million hard-working people. This Government are doing more: we are banning exploitative zero-hours contracts, strengthening statutory sick pay, and ending the use of unscrupulous fire-and-rehire practices. Those are my choices; those are Labour choices.

I know that for many people the cost of living remains a constant challenge. That is why we are capping the cost of school uniforms. I can tell the House today that I am extending the £3 bus fare cap until at least March 2027. Earlier this week, we announced that over three quarters of pensioners will receive the winter fuel payment this year. And there is more: to get bills down, not just this winter but in winters to come, we have expanded the warm homes plan to support thousands more of the UK’s poorest households. That includes providing £7 million to homes in Bradford, £11 million to homes in Rugby, and £30 million to homes in Blackpool. Today I can announce that I will deliver in full our manifesto commitment to upgrading millions of homes, saving families and pensioners across the country up to £600 off their bills, each and every year. I am determined to do everything in my power to put more money in people’s pockets, to give people security and control in their lives, to make working people better off, and to show them that this Labour Government are on their side.

Taxpayers work hard for their money, and they expect their Government to spend their money with care. For the first time in 18 years, this Government have run a zero-based review, and made a line-by-line assessment of what the Government spend—something that the Tories did not bother to do in 14 years. As a result of that work, and our wider drive for efficiencies, led by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, in this spending review I have found savings from the closure and sale of Government buildings and land, from cutting back office costs, and from reducing consultancy spend—all of which the previous Government failed to do. Those reforms will make public services more efficient, more productive, and more focused on the user. I have been relentless in driving out inefficiencies, and I will be relentless in cutting out waste, with every single penny reinvested in our public services.

I joined the Labour party almost 30 years ago because I knew, growing up, that the Conservative party did not care much about schools like mine, or the kids I grew up with. I joined because I believed that every young person should have an equal chance to succeed, no matter where they come from or what their parents do. I believe that just as strongly today as I did then. That is why, at the Budget last autumn, I ended the tax loophole that exempted private schools from VAT and business rates. I put that money where it belongs: into helping the 93% of children in our state schools. The Conservatives opposed money for their local state schools, but I will always prioritise those schools. That was my choice; that is the Labour choice.

Because of decisions that we made in this spending review, last week, this Government, working with my right hon. Friend the Education Secretary, announced that free school meals will be extended to over half a million more children. That policy alone will lift 100,000 children out of poverty—children in schools from Tower Hamlets to Sunderland, and from Swansea to Bridgend.

Last year, at the Labour party conference, I was proud to announce the first steps in our plan to deliver breakfast clubs for every child, with an initial roll-out to the first 750 schools. We will continue with that national roll-out as part of our manifesto commitment, so that no child goes hungry, and every child can have the best chance of thriving and succeeding. I know that a good start in life does not start at school, so I can also announce £370 million for school-based nurseries, to put us firmly on track to meet our plan for change commitment to a record number of children being school-ready. On children’s social care, to break the dangerous cycle of late intervention and low-quality care, I am providing £555 million of transformation funding over the spending review period, so that children do not needlessly go into care when they could stay at home, and so that, where state intervention is necessary, there is better care, and there are better outcomes.

Last week, I was pleased to announce, with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, that more than £130 million from the dormant assets scheme, run with the financial services sector, will be allocated to funding facilities for our young people, to give every child the chance to take part in music, sport and drama, and to fund libraries in our schools, so that the confidence and opportunities that those resources open up are no longer the preserve of the privileged few. Those are my choices, those are Labour choices, and those are the choices of the British people.

Overall, I am providing a cash uplift of over £4.5 billion a year in additional funding for the core schools budget by the end of the spending review, backing our teachers and our kids. People who went to ordinary comprehensives in the ’80s and ’90s are all too familiar with the experience of being taught in temporary classrooms. The previous Conservative Government oversaw another generation of kids being herded into cold and damp buildings as school roofs literally crumbled. It was not acceptable when I was at school, and it is not acceptable now. I am therefore providing investment, rising to nearly £2.3 billion per year, to fix our crumbling classrooms, in addition to £2.4 billion per year to continue our programme to rebuild 500 schools, including Chace community school in Enfield, Woodkirk academy in Leeds and Budmouth academy in Weymouth. Investing in our young people, investing in Britain’s future and investing in opportunity for all: that is Labour’s choice.

Finally, let me turn—[Hon. Members: “More!”] I knew they would cheer. Let me turn to our national health service. It is our most treasured public service, and people rightly expect an NHS that is there when they need it; that an ambulance will come when they call one; that a GP appointment will be available when they need one; and that a scan will be performed when they are referred for one. I am hugely grateful to our nurses, our doctors, our paramedics and other healthcare professionals for everything that they do.

If we want a strong economy where working people can fulfil their potential, we must have a strong NHS—not, as the Reform party have called for, an insurance-based system. We believe in a publicly funded national health service, free at the point of use. Perhaps the hon. Member for Clacton should spend more time focusing on the priorities of the British people, and less time in the Westminster Arms—although, after this week, perhaps the Two Chairmen pub might be a better fit.

At the Budget, I took the decisions necessary to provide an immediate injection of funding to get the NHS back on its feet. I commend my right hon. Friend the Health Secretary for all the progress that he has already made. In less than a year, this Government have recruited 1,700 new GPs, delivered 3.5 million extra appointments and cut waiting lists by more than 200,000. Fixing our NHS also means delivering fundamental reform across social care, so we are backing the first ever fair pay agreement for that sector. I am also increasing the NHS technology budget by almost 50%, and we are investing £10 billion to bring our analogue health system into the digital age, including through the NHS app, so patients can manage their prescriptions, get their test results and book appointments all in one place.

We are shifting care back to the community and providing more funding to support the training of thousands more GPs to deliver millions more appointments. We are investing more in prevention, to meet our manifesto commitment of providing mental health support teams in all schools in England by the end of this Parliament. Those investments will enable the delivery of our upcoming 10-year plan for health and will put the NHS firmly back on the path to renewal.

To support that plan, to back the doctors and nurses we rely on, and to make sure that the NHS is there whenever we need it, I am proud to announce today that this Labour Government are making a record cash investment in our national health service, increasing real-terms, day-to-day spending by 3% per year for every single year of this spending review—an extra £29 billion per year for the day-to-day running of our health service. That is what the British people voted for and that is what we will deliver: more appointments, more doctors and more scanners. The national health service: created by a Labour Government, protected by a Labour Government and renewed by this Labour Government.

This is a spending review to deliver the priorities of the British people: security, with a strong Britain in a changing world; economic growth, powered by investment and opportunity in every part of Britain; and our nation’s health, with an NHS fit for the future. I have made my choices. In place of chaos, I choose stability; in place of decline, I choose investment; and in place of pessimism, division and defeatism, I choose national renewal. These are my choices, these are Labour choices, and these are the choices of the British people. I commend this statement to the House.

The speech made by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, at the Innovate Finance Global Summit held on 29 April 2025.

Thank you Janine, and good afternoon everyone.

It’s a pleasure to be here today to mark the 11th year of UK FinTech Week …

… brought together once again by Innovate Finance…

…who continue to champion tirelessly our FinTech sector.

As Chancellor, I’ve always said it’s my job to back the builders…

… back the wealth creators…

…and the job creators.

So my job is to back all of you in this room.

After all, it’s thanks to your work that the UK is a world leader in FinTech.

When I was working at the Bank of England 20 years ago…

…FinTech was in its infancy…

…an offshoot of financial services…

…and there was certainly no such thing as FinTech week.

But times have changed, the industry has changed.

Last year, the UK’s FinTech sector attracted $3.6 billion of investment – more than any other country bar the US.

Almost half of Europe’s FinTech unicorns are based here in Britain…

…and roughly a third of all UK unicorns are FinTechs – a higher share than anywhere else.

Companies like Allica Bank and Zilch, who were both recently named among the fastest growing companies in Europe by the Financial Times …

…Or Zopa, for whom 2024 marked another year of extraordinary economic growth.

Last week when I was in Washington for the IMF Spring Meetings…

… I spoke to industry, legislators, and policymakers…

…as well as US firms already operating here in the UK.

I set out our strengths as an open trading nation with trade links around the world…

…and as a nation that can provide political and financial stability and certainty to businesses…

…in an uncertain world.

The UK has a long history of breaking new ground in Financial Services.

We were the first country to develop uniform Open Banking standards…

…and we were one of the first countries to establish a system for near-instant digital payments with the Faster payments system in 2008.

In my Mansion House speech last year, I published the National Payments Vision…

… setting out the government’s ambition for seamless account-to-account payments…

…and demonstrating our commitment to a regulatory environment that cares about managing the burden we put on businesses.

Something that we will build in with the consolidation of the Payment Systems Regulator into the FCA.

The UK is Europe’s leading hub for investment…

…raising more equity capital than the next three European exchanges combined last year.

I am committed to building on these strong foundations…

…with an ambitious programme of reforms.

Last September I chose to extend the UK’s generous venture capital schemes…

… the Enterprise Investment Scheme and the Venture Capital Trust scheme…

…which – alongside the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme – offer generous tax reliefs…

…in return for investing in British business.

And we will soon publish the final Pension Investment Review, ahead of the introduction of the Pension Schemes Bill…

…where we will legislate to unlock up to £80 billion of investment into companies like yours…

start-up, scale-up, and fast growing businesses.

…delivering a major consolidation of the Defined Contribution market and the Local Government Pension Scheme…

…so that pension funds have sufficient scale to invest in growing industries like FinTech.

I am determined to make sure that the UK remains one of the best places in the world for FinTechs to start-up, scale-up and to list…

…benefitting from our stable and liquid markets.

Last July, the FCA implemented a fundamental rewrite of the UK’s Listing Rules, the biggest reforms in a generation.

These new rules now put the UK in line – or in many cases ahead – of other global markets in giving companies the flexibility to pursue their growth ambitions…

…backing their aspiration…

…and allowing them to raise large amounts of capital more easily.

And for those companies who want to remain private for longer, we are developing the new Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System – or PISCES…

…which we will legislate for next month.

This is a brand new type of stock exchange for trading private company shares…

…supporting private companies to scale and grow…

…and providing a steppingstone to IPO.

Finally, we’ve reformed the rules to allow greater investment research to be produced on UK listed companies…

…and reducing the burdens imposed on public companies through the UK’s Corporate Governance Code.

I want the UK to be a place where you can take risks…

…innovate and experiment…

…and find new ways to deliver for your customers.

When I met with senior leaders from across the FinTech sector last month…

…you told me about the importance of getting the balance of regulation right…

…especially on digital assets.

I agree.

While the UK will always be committed to high international standards…

…I am determined that our regulatory framework supports economic growth.

That’s why I’m delighted that we are today publishing draft legislation for the UK’s comprehensive regulatory regime for cryptoassets…

…engaging with all of you to ensure that the final legislation – planned for later this year – delivers for government and most importantly for the industry…

…and makes the UK a great place for digital asset companies to invest and innovate.

For the UK to be a world-leader in digital assets…

…international cooperation is vital.

Which is why I discussed continued U.S. and UK engagement with Secretary Bessent last week…

…including further dialogue at the upcoming UK-U.S. Financial Regulatory Working Group in June…

…to support the use and responsible growth of digital assets…

…maintaining the deep historic relationship between the world’s two largest financial centres through this period of significant technological change.

Regulation must support business, not hold it back.

Our regulators were among the first to embrace and develop sandboxes…

…including the Digital Securities Sandbox, where I’m delighted that we already have a broad range of firms all looking at different proposals for tokenising our financial markets.

Last November, I announced that this government will issue a Digital Gilt Instrument…

…an entirely new debt instrument…

…using distributed ledger technology…

this will enable us to experience first-hand the benefits of digital technologies in debt issuance.

And I know that there is appetite to go further.

Last week, Secretary Bessent and I also discussed how our officials could explore opportunities to support industry to innovate cross-border…

…in line with proposals put forward by US Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hester Peirce about a transatlantic sandbox for digital securities…

…potentially allowing greater digital collaboration between capital markets in New York and London.

I’ve talked about what we’ve already done, and some ideas for the future.

Financial services is one of the key growth-driving sectors in the UK’s modern industrial strategy…

….with FinTech as a priority growth opportunity…

…and I look forward to publishing the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy at my upcoming Mansion House address…

…which I can today confirm will take place on the 15th July.

At Mansion House last year I set out my vision on economic growth…

…and the new approach required to build sustainable growth…

…on a platform of stability.

At Mansion House this year I’ll talk about how we can go further and faster in realising that growth.

By publishing the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy…

…I will set out our strategy for the rest of this parliament and beyond…

…building on our strengths in areas including capital markets, insurance and asset management…

… supporting firms to innovate by ensuring they can access and develop the talent they need…

…and promoting the UK as a great place to do business globally.

Backing the builders in FinTech means improving outcomes for businesses and consumers…

…revolutionising how we invest and trade…

And driving growth and prosperity, here in the UK.

It’s incredible how far Fintech has come in the past decade…

And I’m enormously optimistic about the future.

From the huge growth of the sector that has already taken place…

…to the passion, drive and commitment I see from all of you to make FinTech a huge UK success story…

…it is clear that our job in government is to back you, back the builders, back the change makers all the way.

And I am ready to do just that.

Thank you very much.