Budget 2024 latest: Angela Rayner ‘handed £1bn budget boost for housing revolution’
Speculation is mounting ahead of 30 October
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Housing secretary Angela Rayner is planning to double the number of council homes after receiving a boost in the budget, according to reports.
The deputy prime minister is set to announce nearly £1billion to begin a “council housing revolution” and build tens of thousands of extra homes, The Times reported.
Ms Rayner believes council housing is crucial for the government’s target of 1.5 million new homes in the next five years.
As part of the plan, the deputy PM is also set to crack down on the Right to Buy scheme, which allows council house residents to buy their homes below market value, according to The Times.
A senior government source told The Times: “Angela’s ambitions on social and council housing have the full backing of the prime minister and chancellor, and that will become even clearer in the weeks ahead.
"They are joined at the hip when it comes to getting Britain building.”
We’ll be bringing you all the latest updates ahead of the big event on 30 October here, on The Independent’s liveblog.
Martin Lewis sends warning over Buy Now Pay Later crackdown
Martin Lewis has issued a warning over a new crackdown on buy now, pay later products.
The money expert has cautioned consumers it is a case of buy now, get protected later.
Ministers have announced that millions of shoppers are to be protected by new rules for BNPL, as they are known.
Mr Lewis welcomed the change saying: "Buy Now, Pay Later is now ubiquitous at online checkouts, so the fact it’s never been regulated is a travesty I and others have long campaigned on.
“The last chancellor promised to regulate, then the tumbleweed rolled as he went silent, so I am delighted the new government has quickly restarted the process.”
Millionaires urge Reeves to raise £14bn from capital gains tax changes at Budget
Rachel Reeves should increase capital gains tax (CGT) at Labour’s upcoming Budget, a group of millionaire business owners have urged, estimating the measure would raise £14bn a year.
In a report by the IPPR think-tank, analysts have consulted with wealthy entrepreneurs who say higher CGT would not have stopped them from making investments in the UK.
The group has called for CGT to be aligned with income tax, arguing that fears such a move would lead wealthy individuals to leave the country in response are unfounded. Recent HMRC analysis found that a 10 per cent increase to the measure would actually cost the exchequer £2bn after behavioural impacts.
Budget 2024: Inheritance tax set to rise – here’s what it means for you
Inheritance tax set to rise – here’s what it means for you
Only around 4 per cent of families have to pay ‘death tax’ under current legislation
ICMYI: Streeting refuses to rule out income tax threshold freeze
Wes Streeting has refused to rule out that the Government will freeze income tax thresholds in the upcoming Budget.
Mr Streeting had previously voted against the measure in opposition while Rishi Sunak was prime minister.
Speaking on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News, Mr Streeting said: “I’m not going to speculate on what the Chancellor might do in the Budget.
“If you’re asking me whether I would vote against anything in the Chancellor’s Budget? The answer is no, of course I’m not going to do that.”
He went on to say: “This country is paying a heavy price for Conservative failure, and we’re going to have to make some big and difficult choices in this Budget to make sure we fix the foundations of the economy and we don’t end up back here.”
He later added: “What we’re not going to do is duck the difficult decisions, have Government by gimmick, short-term sticking plasters, because that is exactly how we ended up in this situation.”
When is the 2024 Budget and what might be in it?
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver Labour’s first Budget on Wednesday 30 October.
Each year, the chancellor of the exchequer - who is in charge of the government’s finances - makes a Budget statement to MPs.
The speech outlines the government’s plans for spending and taxes.
The Budget speech usually starts around 12:30pm and lasts about an hour. The Independent will be bringing you all the latest updates on the big day.
Ms Reeves may be considering pushing the freeze beyond its current expiry date of 2028 in a move that could raise £7 billion, according to the Financial Times.
Other measures reported to be under consideration include increasing employers’ national insurance contributions, raising fuel duty for the first time since 2010, changes to rules on inheritance tax and stamp duty, and a levy on e-cigarettes, according to reports across the media.
The Treasury has so far declined to comment on Budget speculation.
Comment: Labour were right to break their promise on taxes – we should all be paying more
Labour were right to break their promise on taxes – we should all be paying more
... and the Conservatives are the last people who can complain, writes John Rentoul
Reeves considers raising tax on vaping in Budget
Rachel Reeves is considering raising the tax on vaping products in the upcoming Budget as figures lay bare how many children access them in the UK, The Guardian reports.
The tax on vaping products was originally announced by the Conservatives in March, to come in to force in 2026. It is now understood that Ms Reeves could look to increase this.
Under current plans, the new rates from April 2026 will range from £1-3 per 10ml of liquid, depending on nicotine level.
Rachel Reeves planning £3bn welfare cuts in Budget
Rachel Reeves will seek to make around £3 billion of cuts to welfare over the next four years by restricting access to sickness benefits, it is understood.
The Chancellor is expected to commit to the previous Tory government’s plans to save the sum by reforming work capability rules, as first reported by The Telegraph.
Under Conservative proposals, welfare eligibility would have been tightened so that around 400,000 more people who are signed off long-term would be assessed as needing to prepare for employment by 2028/29, reducing the benefits bill by an estimated £3 billion.
It is understood that Ms Reeves will commit to the plan to save £3 billion over four years, but Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall will decide how the system will be changed in order to achieve this.
What other steps could be taken to tackle the UK’s economic challenges?
There have been rumours Labour could tweak the fiscal rules the Government uses to constrain its own spending and tax decisions.
Chief among those under consideration for change is the period over which the Government aims to see national debt falling as a percentage of the UK’s overall economic output.
Relaxing this rule to a longer period than the current five-year target, or removing spending by certain public organisations from the total, could allow the Chancellor to borrow more cash to invest in major infrastructure projects such as railways, roads, hospitals and new prisons.
What are the problems Labour faces as it sets out its spending plans?
Public services including the NHS and local councils are struggling across the UK, as they grapple with an ageing population, backlogs caused by the pandemic, and the aftermath of the coalition-era austerity programme.
Labour has brokered a pay deal for a swathe of public servants after several years of industrial action, a spending commitment worth £9 billion by some estimates.
Ms Reeves has also claimed the previous Conservative government did not account for the costs of some of its promises, which now need to be met or scaled back.
These commitments, alongside keeping the Government’s ongoing costs “standing still”, made up the so-called £22 billion “black hole” in the public finances which Labour said it needs to fill.
However, Ms Reeves is said to have since identified a far larger £40 billion funding gap which she will seek to plug to protect key departments from real-terms cuts and put the economy on a firmer footing.
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