Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances Spring cleaning the public finances Assessing the Chancellor’s Spring Statement and the UK economic outlook Thursday 27 March 2025 The Chancellor set out her first ever Budget less than five months ago, but the UK’s economic outlook has changed considerably since then. Bad news on growth, inflation and borrowing point to a deterioration in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast, leaving the chances of Rachel Reeves meeting her own ‘non-negotiable’ fiscal rules on a knife edge. The Spring Statement is starting to feel a lot like a Spring Budget… READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances The headroom bind What does the Chancellor need to do to hit her fiscal rules? Monday 17 March 2025 In her Budget last Autumn, the Chancellor announced the biggest tax rises on record to boost public spending and investment by over £300 billion across the Parliament. She also announced new, binding fiscal rules and left herself £10 billion of headroom against meeting them. But the UK economy – and the world – has changed in the past five months… READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events No pain, no gain? Assessing what the Budget means for the UK economy Thursday 31 October 2024 The Resolution Foundation is hosting its traditional ‘morning after the night before’ event to debate and answer questions about the Budget. Following a presentation of the key highlights from its overnight analysis of Autumn Budget 2024, we will hear from leading experts – including the Chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility Richard Hughes – on the state of the public finances, the decisions taken or ducked by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and what the Budget means for firms, families and the future of the UK economy. READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances Tough medicine Assessing the Chancellor’s options in her first Budget Monday 14 October 2024 What tax and spend decisions might the Chancellor consider in order to put the public finances on a more even keel, and what might this mean for family finances? Can the tough medicine in the Budget be squared with the need to kickstart growth? How might the new Government navigate the politics of a post-election Budget? And what could this mean for the rest of the Parliament? READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances Game changer? Assessing the Budget’s economic, and electoral, impact Thursday 7 March 2024 The upcoming Spring Budget may be the last big fiscal event before the General Election, one of few chances for the government to set the terms of the economic debate. And with the government trailing heavily in the polls, and the economy entering a mild recession at the end of last year, the pressure is … Continued READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Public spending· Economy and public finances· Political parties and elections Tax cuts today, spending cuts tomorrow? How the Budget might shape the General Election and beyond Wednesday 21 February 2024 An election is coming, and therefore so are tax cuts in the Budget on 6th March. But the size of those tax cuts are dependent on the amount of fiscal room for manoeuvre the Chancellor has. And their shape will reflect where his political and economic priorities lie. Plus tax cuts come in a context … Continued READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Public spending· Economy and public finances Autumn (Statement) Watch Thursday 23 November 2023 The economy is set to be a defining feature of the run in to next General Election. Inflation is falling, but so too is consumer confidence. Tax revenues are going up, but NHS waiting lists aren’t coming down. In the Autumn Statement the Chancellor will be navigating these short-term challenges, but also addressing longer-term questions … Continued READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances Preparing the pitch What to expect in the upcoming Autumn Statement Monday 6 November 2023 The Chancellor has two just two more fiscal events in which to prepare the economic pitch for the upcoming General Election. The backdrop is a challenging and uncertain economic environment, alongside huge pressure on both public services and finances. With the Prime Minister making a virtue of the need to take tough decisions, the Chancellor … Continued READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances Into calmer waters? Assessing Budget 2023 Thursday 16 March 2023 The UK has gone through four Chancellors, three Prime Ministers and entered a cost-of-living crisis in 500 days since the last Budget way back in October 2021. On 15 March, Jeremy Hunt will unveil his first Budget, hoping to signpost the UK economy’s way towards a new, calmer, phase of lower inflation and higher growth. … Continued READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Public spending· Economy and public finances Back to basics Budget? What Jeremy Hunt’s March Budget has in store Monday 6 March 2023 2022 marked a tough year, with soaring inflation sparking a cost-of-living crisis and repeated government announcements to tackle it. And that was before the Autumn economic policy chaos. The economics and politics are now calmer. Inflation – and most importantly gas prices – is falling, and the Chancellor hopes to deliver a more ‘normal’ Budget … Continued READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Public spending· Economy and public finances A fiscal reset? Assessing the Autumn Statement 2022 Friday 18 November 2022 The new Prime Minister and Chancellor have set one central objective for the Autumn Statement – restore economic credibility. They have set the test for doing so as putting the public finances back on a sustainable path by ensuring that debt is falling as a share of the economy. The size of the fiscal reset … Continued READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Public spending· Economy and public finances Under new management Where will the new Prime Minister steer the UK economy? Tuesday 1 November 2022 Britain is in the midst of a political and economic crisis, with four Chancellors and three Prime Ministers in four months. And with the latest political turmoil triggered by attempts to completely rewrite economic policy, the new Prime Minister is under intense pressure to demonstrate his economic credibility, calm the markets and reduce the pressure … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Budgets & fiscal events· Fiscal policy· Economy and public finances· Economic growth What next? The impact of Trussonomics, tax cuts and market turmoil Thursday 29 September 2022 The last few days have seen a radical reshaping of the Government’s economic policy and a radical reaction from financial markets. Out have gone both Treasury orthodoxy and the legacy of the Johnson premiership, and in are lower taxes, higher borrowing – and higher borrowing costs as spooked markets respond. Will this new strategy boost … Continued READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Public spending· Economy and public finances Waiting for spring Assessing the Chancellor’s Spring Statement Thursday 24 March 2022 Britain entered 2022 with a recovery resilient to Omicron and tax revenues coming in billions higher than expected. But good news on the public finances has been matched by troubling news for family finances as inflation soared and living standards have been squeezed. The conflict in Ukraine has further clouded the UK’s economic outlook, as … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances Budgeting for Britain What the Budget and Spending Review tell us about the Government’s economic strategy Thursday 28 October 2021 Rishi Sunak has had to make a flurry of major fiscal announcements during his 18-months as Chancellor amidst the Covid-19 crisis. At last, with the worse of the crisis behind us, he will hope to be able to set-out an economic plan for post-pandemic Britain in his Budget and Spending Review next Wednesday. However, with … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances On the recovery road Assessing the Budget and economic outlook Thursday 4 March 2021 Chancellor Sunak’s first year in office has been marked by a huge economic crisis, and unprecedented policy interventions to support workers and firms through the pandemic. With vaccines being swiftly rolled out, the year ahead should see the economy return to growth. But with rising unemployment and firms reluctant to invest, the road to recovery … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Monetary policy· Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances Budgeting for Britain’s economic recovery Thursday 25 February 2021 The economic outlook for 2021 is highly uncertain. Having started with a renewed lockdown and likely shrinking economy, a stronger than expected vaccine roll-out offers hope for a recovery in the months ahead. The upcoming Budget on 3 March will be critical in terms of shaping the strength and nature of that recovery from this … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances Cash for Covid Assessing the Spending Review and economic outlook Thursday 26 November 2020 With economic uncertainty running high, the Chancellor has cancelled his Budget and scaled down his upcoming Spending Review. But he still faces big decisions about how much of this year’s exceptional spending will continue into next year to support the economy and tackle the virus. Add in fresh forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Living standards· Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances The real deal A recovery plan for Britain’s economy Tuesday 7 July 2020 Following a quickfire presentation of a major new RF report on how to support the recovery, we will be hearing the views of Shadow Business Secretary Ed Miliband and former Conservative Cabinet Minister Amber Rudd on the critical question of the recovery. READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events Blowing the Budget? The Resolution Foundation's pre-Budget report Monday 24 February 2020 The first Budget of a new parliament is always important as it frames the government’s economic agenda for the rest of the term. And the upcoming Budget is set to be big not just in political strategy terms, but in hard cash too – with £100bn of new capital spending expected to support the government’s … Continued READ MORE
