Day: March 26, 2025

RACHEL REEVES: We will deliver security for working people and renewal for Britain

BRITAIN’S POOREST COMMUNITIES FACE MORE HARDSHIP

  • Chancellor vows to bring about “security and national renewal” as she delivers a Spring Statement to kickstart economic growth, protect working people and keep our country safe.  
  • Reeves will warn that “we have to move quickly in a changing world”, unveiling a significant step towards spending 2.5% of GDP on defence with £2.2 billion funding boost next year.  
  • Growth and national security at heart of Plan for Change as funding invested in cutting-edge weapons and better homes for thousands of military families – paid for by reductions to international aid budget and from the Treasury reserve.  

The Chancellor will promise to deliver “security for working people” and a “decade of national renewal”, as she reveals how the Government will put advanced weaponry in the hands of British troops, provide better homes for military families and kickstart economic growth through the Plan for Change.   

At today’s Spring Statement, the Chancellor will announce a further £2.2 billion funding increase for defence from April, as she warns that Britain has to “move quickly in a changing world”. 

The funding will be invested in advanced technologies so that Britain’s armed forces have the tools they need to compete and win in modern warfare. This includes guaranteeing the investment to fit Royal Navy ships with Directed Energy Weapons by 2027. These weapons can hit a £1 coin from 1km away and take down drones at a distance of 5km.  

It will also be used to provide better homes for military families by refurbishing the defence estate – including over 36,000 homes recently brought back into public ownership from the rental sector. In addition to this, the funding will unlock rapid preparatory work, such as site surveys, planning and architecture, for the major redevelopment of Armed Forces housing through the Defence Housing Strategy.   

The investment will also help fund upgrades to infrastructure at His Majesty’s Naval Base Portsmouth, securing its ability to support Royal Navy operations into the future.   

Speaking in the House of Commons today, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is expected to say: “This government was elected to change our country.

“To provide security for working people. And deliver a decade of national renewal. 

“That work of change began in July – and I am proud of what we have delivered in just nine months. 

“Restoring stability to our public finances; giving the Bank of England the foundation to cut interest rates three times since the General Election; rebuilding our public services with record investment in our NHS and bringing down waiting lists for 5 months in a row; and increasing the National Living Wage to give 3 million people a pay rise from next week. 

She will add: “Now our task is to secure Britain’s future in a world that is changing before our eyes. The job of a responsible government is not simply to watch this change. 

“This moment demands an active government stepping up to secure Britain’s future. A government on the side of working people. 

“To grasp the opportunities that we now have and help Britain reach its full potential, we need to go further and faster to kickstart growth, protect national security and make people better off through our Plan for Change. 

She will also say: “In February, the Prime Minister set out the government’s commitment to increase spending on defence to 2.5% of GDP from April 2027 and an ambition to spend 3% of GDP on defence in the next parliament as economic and fiscal conditions allow.

“That was the right decision in a more insecure world, putting an extra £6.4bn into the defence budget by 2027. But we have to move quickly in a changing word. And that starts with investment. 

“So I can today confirm that I will provide an additional £2.2bn for the Ministry of Defence next year – a further downpayment on our plans to deliver 2.5% of GDP. 

“This increase in investment is not just about increasing our national security but increasing our economic security, too. As defence spending rises, I want the whole country to feel the benefits.” 

The plan will include action to harness the ingenuity of Britain’s leading manufacturing and technology sectors, creating jobs across the country and putting more money into people’s pockets.   

The increase set to be announced today follows the extra £2.9 billion announced for defence in the Autumn Budget and takes spending as a proportion of GDP to 2.36 per cent in 2025/26 – up from 2.3 per cent in 2024/25.   

The announcement is fully funded. The new money comes from in-year funding from the Treasury reserve and from changes to the Overseas Development Assistance budget, so will not require additional borrowing and will maintain the Chancellor’s ironclad fiscal rule. 

Further detail on the Ministry of Defence’s investment plan will be set out via the Strategic Defence Review in the Spring and the Spending Review in June.   

Commenting on the increase in defence spending, Defence Secretary John Healey said: “National security is the bedrock of a successful economy and our Plan for Change. This significant increase in defence spending, on top of the £2.9bn announced by the Chancellor at the Budget, means an extra £5 billion for our Armed Forces next financial year. 

“This investment will make Britain stronger and safer in a more insecure world. And it will ensure defence is an engine for growth, creating good jobs across the nation. 
 
“These are the bold first steps of the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War announced by the Prime Minister last month. Our government is delivering for defence and investing in the outstanding men and women who keep Britain secure at home and strong abroad.” 

Scots say: Increase taxes on the richest, rather than make cuts to public spending

CHANCELLOR EXPECTED TO SLASH WELFARE IN SPRING STATEMENT

New polling reveals people in Scotland would overwhelmingly prefer the very richest to pay more in tax rather than see cuts to public spending, as parallel Oxfam analysis shows the UK’s wealthiest people continue to amass even greater fortunes.

It comes as new number crunching by Oxfam, Patriotic Millionaires UK and Tax Justice UK finds that UK billionaires have seen their fortunes swell by £11 billion in the past 12 months alone – the combined amount the UK Government plans to cut from international aid and social security entitlements for people in the UK with disabilities or illnesses.

Campaigners say the data shows the UK Government’s recent cuts are not about financial scarcity, but rather about political priorities, and they sharply contrast with public opinion.

The polling, carried out ahead of the Spring Statement by YouGov on behalf of Oxfam, shows that people aged over 16 in Scotland strongly back action to fairly tax the wealthiest:

  • 68% think the very richest should pay more in tax.
  • More than three-quarters (79%) would rather tax the very richest than see cuts to public spending.
  • 79% support a new 2% wealth tax on assets worth more than £10 million.

The findings pile further pressure on the UK Government to introduce wealth taxes on the richest millionaires and billionaires.

Tax justice campaigners have identified a series of fair tax reforms and loopholes that could be closed to raise additional revenue. They say that a 2% wealth tax alone, applied to assets worth more than £10m, could raise up to £24 billion annually or around £460 million a week while only impacting 0.04% of the population – around 20,000 people.

For illustrative purposes, if the 2% wealth tax on assets over £10 million was introduced now, UK billionaires would still have seen their personal wealth soar by an average of £141 million each – a total of nearly £7.5 billion combined – since this time last year.

The money raised could be used to reduce poverty and inequalities, strengthen public services, including the critical care sector, and boost climate action, instead of padding the pockets of the super-rich while deepening economic, gender and racial inequalities.

Jamie Livingstone, Head of Oxfam Scotland, said: “We all feel it in our bones: it’s indefensible that public spending to support those in poverty and crisis is being slashed, while private wealth is quietly stashed away.

“People in Scotland are crystal clear: they’d rather tax the richest than see cuts to public spending. Yet the UK Government has chosen to snatch £11 billion from the pockets of those who need it most while the same amount has been added to the bloated bank balances of those who need it least in just 12 months.

“It’s time for the UK Government to put fairness first; tax the super-rich and protect people in poverty. The choice is that simple.”

Mark Campbell, entrepreneur and member of Patriotic Millionaires UK, said: “As a millionaire I know the economy is working for a few people like me and working against the vast majority.

“Spending cuts are short-sighted and will only increase the worries of millions of people in the UK who are struggling to put food on the table and heat their homes.

“Meanwhile, the very richest people in our society are watching their wealth grow exponentially. It seems outrageous that the wealth of the richest is taxed at a much lower rate than the income of working people who will bear the brunt of these budget cuts.

“A wealth tax is a very clear alternative. Given that most people want higher taxes on the very richest, and plenty of millionaires – people like me – also want it, what’s stopping the UK Government?”

As part of Tax Justice Scotland, a campaign backed by more than 50 diverse civil society organisations, think tanks, trade unions and academics, Oxfam Scotland is urging the UK and Scottish Governments to use their respective tax powers to fairly raise more money to enable greater investment in key poverty-reducing public services, like care, while combatting inequalities, and rewarding businesses that provide fair and flexible work – including for parents, and particularly women – while paying the real Living Wage.

Oxfam Scotland says the Scottish Government must also use devolved powers to help combat the growing gap between the wealthiest and those struggling to make ends meet, with the richest 10% having 217 times more wealth than the least wealthy 10%, and with record high income inequality.

Wealth inequality is not only deeply unfair, but a barrier to reducing poverty. It exacerbates social and environmental harms, fuels wider inequalities – such as those related to gender and race, and drives a wedge between those with wealth and those without it.

Campaigners are calling on Scottish Ministers to use the devolved tax tools at their disposal, such as landing a fair tax on pollution-spewing private jets using Scotland’s airports and finally replacing the discredited Council Tax with a system to tax property wealth fairly.

Jamie Livingstone added: “Scotland’s political leaders can’t afford to wait for Westminster to make the fair and obvious choice to make the wealthiest pay their share.

“As we approach the 2026 Holyrood election, they would be fool hardy to ignore the public mood. People want to see real progress on fairness. Scotland has powers to tax wealth more fairly to combat runaway inequality and to build a better and greener country, it’s time to use them.”