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This report is from this week’s CNBC’s UK Exchange newsletter. Each Wednesday, Ian King brings you expert insights on the most important business stories from the U.K. and the key personalities shaping the news. The newsletter will also highlight other key developments in the U.K. that you won’t want to miss, plus a preview of essential events that are set to make waves. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.
It says much about the current state of U.K. politics that today’s spending review has taken on such importance.
What should be a relatively straightforward event, in which Rachel Reeves, the chancellor of the Exchequer, sets out the government’s spending plans for the next three financial years, has even been billed by some commentators as the defining moment of this parliament.
This is because, little under a year after being handed a landslide majority by the U.K. electorate, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government is deeply unpopular and thrashing around for ways to appease a surly and resentful public.
