Chancellor promises ‘no austerity’ and a ‘drive for growth’ in today’s Budget

The Chancellor has promised to cut the cost of living, bring down hospital waiting lists and drive growth in advance of her Autumn Budget later today (Wednesday, November 26).

In a speech released just hours before she will present her Budget to the House of Commons at around 12.30pm today, Rachel Reeves said it would ‘deliver on our promise of change’.

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She said the Budget would take ‘fair and necessary choices’ but pledged action to cut NHS waiting lists, cut debt and borrowing, cut the cost of living and boost UK growth.

Ms Reeves cited Budget actions already previously released, including freezing prescription charges at £9.90, freezing the price of rail fares and increasing the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage by £1,500 and £900 respectively.

Investment for 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres has been confirmed in a bid to cut NHS waiting lists further and ‘end the postcode lottery of healthcare access’.

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You can watch the full video of her speech above, but the Chancellor said: “Change was never going to come easy. It requires hard work and it requires fair choices.

“In the past year, we had begun to see the results, with wages rising faster than inflation, hospital waiting lists coming down, our economy growing faster and stronger than people expected.

“But I know that there is more to do. I know that the cost of living is still bearing down on family finances. I know that people feel frustrated at the pace of change. Or angry at the unfairness in our economy.

“I have to be honest, that the damage done from austerity, a chaotic Brexit and the pandemic were worse than we thought.”

She said she would not ‘lose control of public spending’ but ‘take action to help families with the cost of living’ and added: “We've already frozen rail fares, begun rolling out free breakfast clubs and we've raised the national living wage for millions of working people.

“Today I will go further. I will take action to cut hospital waiting lists. By protecting record investment in our NHS and tackling waste in the public sector so that your money goes towards frontline services.”