The government offers capital investment and fiscal prudence but real-terms department cuts and grand promises could strain political credibility
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rexit’s ghost haunts a Labour spending review intended to lay the foundations for a second term. Its headlines echo the twin themes of the referendum campaign: control immigration, fund the NHS. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said she would end the use of hotels for asylum seekers “in this parliament” saving £1bn a year, while NHS spending will rise by 3% a year. Ms Reeves framed it as a politics of security and compassion. Yet it reads as Brexit’s populist promises, filtered through Westminster orthodoxy.
The risk is that this is all slogan and very little solution. The asylum savings are speculative, and the annual increase in NHS budgets is below its historical average. There are also real-terms cuts or essentially flat budgets for key departments such as transport, education and local government. The Home Office faces cuts deeper than asylum savings alone, prompting alarm from police and the London mayor, Sadiq Khan.
Plainly, what looks good today for the chancellor may feel insufficient tomorrow on hospital wards, high streets or in the classroom. The everyday experience of voters will shape their judgment. That is why there were nods from Ms Reeves to cost-of-living pressures by keeping the cap on bus fares and the insistence that police and council funding would see “spending power” rises. Despite negative briefing, Ed Miliband secured significant wins in the review, notably protecting the £13bn Warm Homes insulation scheme and cementing his influence over the GB Energy agenda, while bolstering the UK’s net‑zero energy strategy.
