Reeves announces plans to make state ‘leaner’ and ‘more productive’
Overall, day-to-day spending will drop by £6.1 billion by 2029/30 and will now grow by an average of 1.2% a year above inflation, the Chancellor said.
Rachel Reeves has said public spending will be cut as she attempts to make the state “leaner”.
Overall, day-to-day spending will drop by £6.1 billion by 2029/30 and will now grow at an average of 1.2% a year above inflation, down from the 1.3% forecast at the time of October’s budget, the Chancellor announced.
Ms Reeves said on Wednesday that the Government’s “transformation fund” will introduce “voluntary exit schemes to reduce the size of the Civil Service”.
The Chancellor told MPs: “Our work to make government leaner, more productive and more efficient will help deliver a further £3.5 billion of day-to-day savings by 2029/30.”
The UK Civil Service workforce is the largest it has been for nearly two decades and has grown by more than 100,000 in recent years.
Ms Reeves said on Wednesday that capital spending, which relates to Government investments, will rise by “an average of £2 billion per year compared to the autumn to drive growth in our economy and deliver in full our vital commitments on defence”.
She also announced a £2.2 billion defence spending hike over the next year from April as part of the Government’s bid to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence by 2027.
Ms Reeves said: “This additional investment is not just about increasing our national security, but increasing our economic security too.”
A protected budget of £400 million will be allocated to bring innovative technology to the front line at speed, she said.
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride pressed Ms Reeves to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP in this parliament.
