Where we’re at, and forecasts:

• £280bn to get the country through Coronavirus this year
• £18bn earmarked initially for Covid response next year, plus £3bn for NHS recover, £2bn for transport and £3bn to local councils, £250m to help end rough sleeping
• £2.6bn to support devolved administrations.
• Next year public services funding to cope with Covid will total £55bn

• OBR: Economy to contract 11.3% this year; growing:
  • 5.5% – 2021
  • 6.6% – 2022
  • 2.3% – 2023
  • 1.7% – 2024
  • 1.8% – 2025
• Economy will be permanently smaller by 3% in 2025
• UK forecast to borrow £394bn this year; 19% of GDP
  • Falling to £100bn – 4% of GDP – for the end of the OBR forecast

• Business insolvencies have fallen
• Unemployment remains lower than in Italy, France, Spain, Canada and the USA
• £3.5bn for DWP to help those unemployed for over a year find new work
• OBR expect 7.5% unemployment by next year, falling to 4% by the end of 2024

Public sector wages

• private-sector workers’ wages fell by nearly 1% up to September, whereas public sector rose by almost 4%
• “I cannot justify a significant across the board pay increase across the sector, instead we are targeting” support”
• Majority of public sector workers will get a pay rise
  1. Nurses, doctors and NHS workers WILL get a pay rise
  2. Pay rises in the rest of the public sector will be paused next year
  3. 2.1million public sector workers below £24,000 will be guaranteed a pay rise of at least £250
• Minimum wage will rise as will the National Living Wage

Departments

• Day to day departmental spending will rise next year by 3.8%. An increase of £14.8 billion.
• Core health budget will grow next year by £6.6bn
• Criminal justice funding will increase by £1bn next year, £4bn over four years to provide new prison spaces
• UK infrastructure bank based up north

Foreign aid

• 0.7% “difficult to justify to the British people”
• Cut to 0.5%, with an aim to return to 0.7% when next possible

£4bn levelling up fund

• Any local area will be able to bid directly to fund local projects
• Administered between Treasury, DfT and Local Government
• The projects must command local support and from the MP