Harry Farley
Political correspondent

There will certainly be some extra money for defence in today’s Budget.

John Healey has promised to fill the £4.7bn hole in the defence investment plan that Keir Starmer left unfunded. Treasury sources confirmed to me that money will be in the Budget this lunchtime.

The expectation is there will be some more money beyond that. But it’s not clear how much and how it will be funded.

He is not expected go as far as the Conservatives want and set out a plan to reach 3% of GDP spent on defence by 2030.

The Conservatives say: "If Healey fudges defence spending rather than properly funding 3% by 2030 in his Budget, he must resign."

That would require an additional £11bn in that year alone. A decision on whether to hit that target, rather than the longer term goal of 3.5% by 2035, will come in next year’s spending review.

But some more money in the interim before next year is likely today.

Image source, Reuters

Colletta Smith
Your Voice correspondent

BBC Your Voice has spoken to people ahead of the Budget, to see what they want to see in John Healey's speech today.

Chloe Holmes, 24, lives in Derby and feels the increasing cost of day-to-day life has become "ridiculous".

"I want the government to look at the cost of living. I work full-time as a photographer and have been living with my parents while me and my partner save for a house.

"We’re in the process of buying but we’re having to go into shared ownership. I'm on a low income and so is my partner. A 40% share of a house is what we can afford."

She says she is supportive of the prime minister and feels "there has been some change", but also wants to "see more breathing room for people in their 20s" to be able to get a house and full-time work.

Martin Roper, 65 owns and runs four pubs. He says he has changed the focus of some of the pubs like the Exeter Arms in Derby to providing quality food because the numbers of drinkers are shrinking.

Martin says he employs a lot of young staff so National Insurance changes have had a huge impact on his businesses.

"That's hit us hard," he says, adding "some help with VAT would be fantastic, so that businesses like ours can reinvest in our pubs and people and keep going".

BBC News has been speaking to people on a range of incomes on how they feel about their finances and what they would like to see in the Budget.

Jonathan Whitwam, who recently joined the Labour Party, works in finance and says that in addition to his mortgage, his biggest outgoing is supporting his two daughters through university. He and his wife, who live in Essex, pay their rent, which is around £18,000 per year.

His daughters will start their working lives with between £45,000 to £60,000 of debt each, plus interest, which will be compounding at £5,000 to £8,000 per year.

"I have no objection to paying for degrees as I think they are a great way of broadening horizons and having great life experience. But I think the interest should be waived or capped below 1%, otherwise it's a noose around their neck for a substantial part of their lifetime."

More generally, Jonathan, 52, would welcome taxes being put up for higher earners like himself in the name of "redistribution". He would also like to see a one-off wealth tax for people with assets worth over £10m and new taxes on the oil and gas and banking sectors.

"If we want better roads, hospitals, schools we need to raise more tax."

Hazel Shearing
Education correspondent

What changes could we see to student loans in this year’s Budget?

In order to answer that, we need to cast our minds back to the last one.

Back in November, former chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the repayment threshold for Plan 2 student loans, which were given out for just over a decade in England from 2012, would be frozen rather than rising with inflation.

It means the salary at which borrowers start paying back their loans is due to stay at £29,385 in April and remain there for three years – so graduates start repaying sooner and repay more each month than they would otherwise have done.

That’s largely what sparked a backlash against the repayment terms this year.

The National Union of Students, Rethink Repayment and a group of 130 MPs and peers want the decision reversed today, as well as other changes like a lower interest rate.

The government has said it wants to “make the system fairer for students, graduates and taxpayers”. Whether it will make any changes today is another question.

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Andy Burnham has been pictured leaving Downing Street ahead of PMQs.

As a reminder, that's due to start at midday before the chancellor delivers the Budget.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

When the Labour Party returned to power in 2024, it promised to abide by a series of fiscal rules, which were upheld by Rachel Reeves during her time as chancellor.

Her successor John Healey has committed to the self-imposed rules, saying he and PM Andy Burnham were "in lockstep" about the commitment.

The two main rules are:

• Not borrowing to fund day-to-day public spending by the end of this parliament
• Getting government debt falling as a share of national income by the end of this parliament

In March, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) calculated that the first rule would be met with a buffer – or headroom – of £23.6bn. However, this headroom is expected to have shrunk.

Image source, Getty Images

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

There is striking similarity in what opposition parties are saying ahead of the Budget.

They all criticise what they see as the relatively limited scale and ambition of what John Healey seems likely to announce.

Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith says: "Healey must use his Budget to take tough decisions, instead of continuing to kick the can down the road."

Reform’s Robert Jenrick says: Healey "can’t keep fiddling while the economy burns" and "we need a break-glass Budget that finally puts the economy back on track."

Both those parties on the right want significant cuts in government spending.

But the diagnosis from the left is similar, albeit with a different solution.

The Liberal Democrats say "a ‘steady as she goes' budget is not going to cut it."

And the Green Party’s Zack Polanski says: "Today’s budget looks like a catastrophic let down for anyone expecting Burnham to give them hope for the future".

Both of those parties want more state support for the cost of living. Healey’s task is to win the argument that his more cautious approach is the right one for what he says is a “difficult moment” in the economy.

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Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and other ministers have been pictured leaving Downing Street - it looks as though the cabinet meeting has concluded.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Kevin Peachey
Cost of living correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

With some fanfare at the last Budget, savers were encouraged to invest their money in stocks and shares with a reduction in the cash Isa allowance.

It meant, from April 2027, if you're under 65, you would only be able to save £12,000 a year in cash in an Isa, rather than £20,000 - more on that here.

But the chancellor who announced that - Rachel Reeves - has gone, and so has her policy, according to a report in the FT this morning., external

It may be new Chancellor John Healey's belief that carrot, not stick, policies encourage investing.

It may also be that he wanted to give something back to banks - which were unhappy with the Isa rule change - before he taxes them more.

As a reminder, senior banking executives told the BBC earlier this month that Chancellor John Healey was planning to increase taxes on the sector.

Cachella Smith
Live reporter

We won't know the full details of the chancellor's Budget for a couple of hours yet - but we do have some idea of a number of measures we expect to hear about.

Here's a quick reminder of some of the things we've got on our radar:

Energy bills: Hours before the Budget, Healey announced standing charges for household gas bills would be scrapped and replaced with costs per unit

Minimum wage: A rise in minimum wage is expected to be confirmed later today - but will constitute a lower increase for the 18-20 group than in previous years

Supermarket prices: The government plans to remove tariffs from 100 products which could result in a weekly saving of 40p for households - depending on which items you regularly purchase

First-time buyers: Burnham has already spoken about the planned Your First Home scheme under which people could buy a new-build with a 2.5% deposit and get a loan worth 20% of their property's value to help with the purchase - we could hear more on that later

Pensioners: Pensioners who only get an income from the state pension are expected to be shielded from paying income tax, ahead of the full state pension rising above the current personal allowance threshold of £12,570

A tapered carer allowance is among other measures that have been trailed, while a possible fuel duty freeze could be on the horizon.

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Standing charge removal will be popular - but may not come in time for big bill rises in Januarypublished at 09:36 GMT 28 October

09:36 GMT 28 October

Simon Jack
Business editor

This morning's announcement about abolishing standing charges on gas bills is popular.

The standing charges themselves are deeply unpopular – they are a fixed daily fee that you pay before one single molecule of gas comes though the pipe.

It is regressive in the sense that poorer households pay the same amount for their standing charge as richer households so they ultimately pay more for their gas bills because the standing fee is on top of that.

This announcement will move it into the unit cost of the gas. So the less you use, the less you'll pay.

It means that richer households will pay more and poorer households will pay a bit less but overall it will be roughly neutral.

There's also an ambition to try and get rid of additional green levies from electricity bills to bring those down and move those into general taxation over time.

But with gas bills prices currently three times what they were this time last year - and average bills set to comfortably exceed £2,000 come January - it’s a question of it's better than it would have been, rather than you're going to feel much better off.

Image source, Getty Images

The scrapping of standing charges for household gas bills, announced by the chancellor earlier, is "a sensible idea", but won't benefit everyone, according to Richard Neudegg, director at comparison firm Uswitch.

Neudegg tells the Press Association that it can feel "illogical" for households with low gas use to be paying the same standing charge year-long, especially in summer when usage can be much lower.

“Households that use less gas, such as those living in smaller homes, should benefit when this comes in," he says, but says these costs will move to the price of each unit of gas, leaving heavy gas users worse off.

While Citizens Advice chief executive Claire Moriarty, says the move "could be positive" but that "it does come with some risks", especially for those living in poorly insulated homes who may have higher gas usage.

Moriarty tells Radio 4's Today programme that the "devil is in the detail" and this policy "needs to be accompanied by targeted support that takes account of people's circumstances".

On the cost of the policy, Institute for Fiscal Studies (IF) director Helen Miller notes that "there is a real challenge" for the government to "decide who to help and who's going to pick up the tab".

Simon France, of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, says the government has "serious questions to answer" on who will lose out financially, adding that “support for them must be in place before this change happens".

It's a big day for cabinet ministers, who have been arriving at No 10 this morning ahead of their meeting before the Budget.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

BBC News has been speaking to people on a range of incomes on how they feel about their finances and what they would like to see in the Budget.

Dave Herbert, a professional driver who moves cars between showrooms and does deliveries, says fuel prices have been "crazy" this year.

He spends around £350 a month on petrol for work and personal use. That's 40% to 50% more than at the start of the year, he says.

He has to commute into Cardiff, a 62-mile round trip from his home in the village of Ynysddu. "I'd love to have a hybrid car but even an entry-level used car is too expensive."

The 48-year-old, who is married with a 12-year-old daughter, says he has to find the extra money for fuel "from an already tight budget" and "dreads" filling up at the pump.

"The best thing they could do at the Budget is drastically remove or reduce fuel duty for a period of time."

The main fuel duty rate has been frozen at 57.95p per litre since March 2011, but Dave says: "It sounds like they're giving us something by keeping it frozen but they're actually still taking it off us."

You can read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

Over on Radio 4, the Today programme has been speaking to businesses about their hopes for today.

Chris Jowsey, who is chief executive officer of Admiral Taverns - which has over 1,350 pubs - says he would like the chancellor to increase the threshold below which business rates are not paid.

This would bring 250 Admiral Taverns pubs out of paying business rates altogether, he says.

Jowsey adds that the government is providing "an awful lot of transitional relief type stuff" which is "helpful", but in the more long-term he wants the government to ensure businesses have the "certainty in which to plan".

Fraser Smeaton, who founded fancy dress business Morph Costumes in 2009, hopes for changes to income tax because paying corporation tax at 25% and income tax at 39.5% once you've grown a business "reduces the amount of investment" you can make "to keep them growing fast".

He says entrepreneurs he knows are moving their businesses offshore, and that the UK can be "more competitive".

"I'm not sure [the government] understand how mobile people are or how much people are shopping around for where the best place is to bring that type of business," he adds.

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

The sun is well and truly up in Downing Street now and the cabinet will shortly arrive to for a pre-Budget meeting.

As in any Budget, the chancellor has several audiences today. The public is the main one. Can he maintain, or even boost, the popularity bounce Labour has enjoyed since Andy Burnham took over? Or is this the moment the shine begins to come off?

The markets is another key audience. Can he reassure nervy financial markets so the cost of government borrowing doesn’t go up?

But Labour MPs sat behind John Healey in the House of Commons later are the third crucial audience. I’ve been speaking to some of them and there are some jitters about whether the limited scale of this Budget is the right approach?

"My heart feels torn," one supporter of Burnham tells me. "I would like a more radical Budget. We’ve had a lot of retail policies. That needs to go up a notch now."

Another says: "My guess is when the energy bills go up in January, our popularity will fall. I don’t think the rubber has hit the road yet."

Those jitters might not emerge into the open today, or even in the days to come. But they exist, and Healey will have to convince his MPs that his approach, in light of the constraints he is under with the with Iran pushing up inflation, is the right one.

Image source, Reuters

Speaking to the BBC earlier this month, senior banking executives said that Chancellor John Healey was planning to increase taxes on the sector.

Healey has described banks as part of "the crown jewels" of the UK economy, but leaders in the sector said they will be "on the menu" today at the Budget.

The biggest four banks collectively made about £15bn profit in the first six months of this year, and trade unions have called for them to face additional taxes.

The trade body for the banking sector, UK Finance, warned "further increases in bank taxes would weaken competitiveness" and "discourage investment and job creation".

Image source, PA Media

Theo Leggett
International business correspondent

Image source, EPA

This year has been a painful one for drivers thanks to the war in the Middle East.

The cost of filling a family car with diesel has gone up by around £30 since late February. A tankful of petrol costs about £23 more.

So what could the chancellor do to help? 47% of the pump price of unleaded is tax, and 43% of the cost of diesel, according to the Royal Autombile Club (RAC). That includes fuel duty and VAT.

In theory, fuel duty is due to go up by 5p next year, removing a discount first introduced in 2022.

But that increase is highly unlikely to go ahead. The real question is whether the current rate is simply frozen again or cut further. A freeze appears to be the most likely option.

Kevin Peachey
Cost of living correspondent

Finding a way to scrap standing charges from gas bills is not a new puzzle for regulator Ofgem to solve.

It’s been grappling with the idea for a while, and is already trialling low standing charge tariffs.

The chancellor’s latest move comes at no real cost to the government, but it does to some high gas users, notably large, low-income families. That’s why details of any mitigation will be important.

And why only gas, not electricity, standing charges? Lots of levies and schemes are funded through the electricity standing charge that all households pay.

Image source, PA Media

PM's lofty ambitions encounter the financial realities facing the chancellorpublished at 07:59 GMT 28 October

07:59 GMT 28 October

Chris Mason
Political editor

A new prime minister’s lofty ambitions encounter today the financial realities a new chancellor grapples with.

The Budget, then, is an exercise in trying to haul the numbers as plausibly close to the words as the economic and geopolitical backdrop allows.

The cost of living has been the persistent context for this chancellor and several recent predecessors; war in the Middle East the latest contributory factor.

Intervention on gas bills, support with business rates in England and Wales for some but not all of those on the High Street, acknowledgement of the need to crank up defence spending among the measures expected later.

John Healey’s been in the thick of umpteen budgets dating back to the late 90s. He was Gordon Brown’s parliamentary private secretary. Later, economic - then financial - secretary to the Treasury. Today, he’s centre stage.

His offer of "breathing space" and "hope" a tacit acknowledgement on the constraints on action he feels. His political opponents will brand his efforts footling. Ministers will argue this is the beginning not end of their plans.

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