The armed forces are in line for a £3 billion boost, according to reports, as Rachel Reeves prepares to unveil the Labour Government’s first Budget.
The Chancellor is set to announce an increase in the defence budget for next year in her fiscal statement in the Commons on Wednesday, part of which will be used to give soldiers a pay rise backdated to April, the Telegraph reported.
The funding will also be used to buy weapons, with the aim of replenishing stockpiles depleted by donations to Ukraine.
A pathway to increasing defence spending to 2.5% of national economic output demanded by the Tories will not be in the Budget.
Ms Reeves will make history as the UK’s first female Chancellor when she delivers Wednesday’s Budget.
n her speech, she is expected to say the “prize on offer” is “immense”, and she will lay out new funding to cut hospital waiting lists, pave the way for more affordable homes and rebuild crumbling schools.
She will add: “More pounds in people’s pockets. An NHS that is there when you need it. An economy that is growing, creating wealth and opportunity for all. Because that is the only way to improve living standards.”
Harking back to the Labour governments of Attlee, Wilson and Blair, Ms Reeves will say it is “not the first time that it has fallen to the Labour Party to rebuild Britain”.
The Chancellor has warned that the tax hikes and borrowing increases she is considering may not be enough to undo “14 years of damage” to the NHS, despite plans to pump billions of pounds into the health service.
Alongside its Budget analysis, fiscal watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will publish a report on the Conservatives’ legacy in government, which is expected to account for the so-called £22 billion “black hole” in the public finances.
Shadow chancellor Jeremy Hunt is contesting the report, claiming in a letter to top civil servant Simon Case that the OBR risks “straying into political territory and failing to follow due process”.