Image source, House of Commons

Healey talks about spending reviews and the need to prioritise through a "digital overhaul of government".

He refers to an investment in AI for "civil service transformation, to support saving a further £600m from back-office budgets".

The chancellor also announces a review of NHS productivity and AI "so staff can spend their time with patients, not on admin".

He talks about "streamlining the state through devolution" to reduce "double-running between central and local government".

Healey then describes a "new focus on prevention", and says at the next spending review he will "ringfence prevention spending that brings down costs in future, with new preventative departmental expenditure limits".

Dearbail Jordan
Senior business and economics reporter

Banks have seen their share prices jump following Healey's smaller than forecast surcharge which will remain in place for just 15 months.

Barclays' share price is up by 2.5% while NatWest's has risen by 2.4%. Lloyds Banking Group's share price is also up 1.9%.

Healey says this "fiscal devolution" will see "100% of business rates retained locally by the end of the decade".

He adds that from next year, 20% of business rates revenue will go to mayors.

From 2028, he says a share of income tax revenue will also go to mayors.

Mayors, and some other local authorities, will also have additional powers from 2028 to introduce overnight visitor levies.

Healey describes it as the "biggest wave of devolution in a generation, driving good growth in every postcode".

The chancellor announces plans to devolve tax revenues, calling it a "roadmap to fiscal devolution".

He says that "100% of business rates will be retained locally by the end of the decade".

"From next year, 20% of business rates revenue will go to mayors," he says, and from 2028 "a share of income tax receipts will go to mayors as well".

Image source, House of Commons

Healey says when he talks about unleashing Britain's innovation power, he means "in every part".

He mentions a number of smaller multi-million investments in regions of England, including £10m for a new market hall in Stafford.

The chancellor says devolved governments will receive the equivalent funding, including £2.5m for a science park in north Wales.

While London is the UK's "economic powerhouse", Healey says, growth would be "transformed" if other cities matched their counterparts in France and Germany.

"Local leaders shouldn't have to come cap in hand to Whitehall to build a new tram or concert hall," he tells the Commons.

A "radical rewiring" of the state is a mission led by the Treasury and No 10 North, Healey adds, announcing "Good Growth Funds" for mayors, and "incubator capital" for areas without mayors.

Dharshini David
Deputy economics editor

The chancellor says he is "making sure that people pay the tax they owe, when they owe it, and closing loopholes in our tax system".

Many chancellors have opted to include ideas about clamping down on (legal) tax avoidance and (illegal) tax evasion, in the hopes of raising billions.

But it’s always highly uncertain how much such measures will net.

We’ll have to wait for the fine print to find out how much the chancellor is relying on such measures to fund his plans.

How much money is collected in taxes? HMRC collected £937.8bn in taxes overall in 2025-26. Income tax was the biggest contributor, accounting for 35% of this total, followed by National Insurance contributions and VAT.

Healey has announced a new trading allowance, raising the amount people can earn from a new venture tax-free from £1,000 to £3,000.

The chancellor is also launching a new young entrepreneurs allowance, which will cover a year of living costs for young founders "while they turn their ideas into businesses".

He's also announcing a new scale-up programme to female founders, adding that the British business bank will double its commitments to women-led businesses in funds to £200m.

Given the risks of building a company, the government should recognise that success and keep those people in the UK. Healey announces a "founders' relief", a 10% rate on lifetime gains up to £10m for the founders of Britain's most successful firms.

Healey seeking to make data centres more appealingpublished at 13:11 GMT 28 October

13:11 GMT 28 October

Chris Mason
Political editor

An interesting nugget there from the chancellor when he talked about a "Data Centre Covenant".

In short, the government knows it needs to win a flotilla of local arguments to try to ensure there isn’t an armada of opposition to plans for a data centre down the road from you.

Can they make data centres more appealing? That is what John Healey is attempting to do here.

Image source, House of Commons

Healey turns to the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and says "nowhere is the necessary role for the state clearer".

The government, he says, must "seize the opportunities and guard against the risks".

"We are already world leaders in AI safety and security, which today's Budget backs with an extra half a billion pounds," Healey says.

He sets out a new deal for data centres in the UK, and says that when the NHS and armed forces use AI, "we want that data here".

The British data centre covenant, the chancellor says, will have "strict tests that data centres must meet".

"I want to ensure that the British people can benefit from the huge potential upsides," he says, with AI that is "secure, safe and working for the British people".

Dearbail Jordan
Senior business and economics reporter

Workers aged between 18 and 20 years old will see their pay rise by 3.9%.

That's the same increase as those aged 21 years and over.

It is a smaller increase than 18 to 20 year-olds have had from Labour over the past two years which, taken together, saw minimum hourly wages rise by 26%.

Simon Jack
Business editor

The chancellor said he will cut business rates to zero for 70,000 businesses by raising the threshold for those who have to pay it from premises with a rateable value of £12,000 to £18,000.

This will be welcomed but it had been frozen since 2017 and would have reached nearly £18,000 if it had risen in line with inflation.

Dearbail Jordan
Senior business and economics reporter

Well, that’s a surprise. There was speculation Healey could charge banks an extra 5% tax.

The chancellor’s gone for 3% instead, on top of an existing 3% surcharge and the 25% corporation tax rate.

It means banks will pay a 31% tax on their profits. But it will only be for 15 months, starting from next January.

Healey says it will pay for "immediate support on energy bills".

Image source, House of Commons

Healey says the choice he has made this Budget is "asking a bit more of our banks" to support ordinary people and raising taxes on gambling to support the high street.

Addressing Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, he says: "I challenge the leader of the opposition, does she support today our support for British families and British firms?".

"And does she back the action we're taking to pay for it?" he adds.

Healey turns to banks.

He says "I celebrate and I am grateful for the role that you play" and that amid "global economic storms" he is looking to banks to help fund breathing space.

The chancellor says banks will pay an extra 3% on the banks surcharge - taking the total paid to 6% - which will be "time-limited" to pay for immediate support on energy bills.

It will start in January and end 15 months later, he says.

Healey confirms he will not go ahead with the cut to the tax-free amount that people can put into a cash ISA - it will remain at £20,000 annually.

He adds that he will also work with the sector on a new "Starter ISA" to help make investment more accessible.

Healey says providing support means raising some tax and he's done so in a "balanced way".

The chancellor says he is reducing the threshold for business asset disposal relief in capital gains tax from £1m to £500,000, which will mean "no change for three in four claimants".

Image source, House of Commons

Everything in this Budget, the chancellor says, is "fully funded".

"I have begun by making sure that people pay the tax they owe, when they owe it, and closing loopholes in our tax system," he says.

This includes giving the tax office funding "to improve compliance, and stronger powers to collect overdue tax from those who can clearly afford to pay, but ignore repeated contact".

Healey says he is also reforming the administration of self-assessment income tax, bringing those affected in line with the majority so they make "smaller, more regular payments instead of facing larger bills that are harder to pay".

The chancellor then lists off a few other changes that relate to corporate and property taxes.

Dharshini David
Deputy economics editor

The slowdown in growth the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is predicting between this year and next is slightly more marked than many economists’ expectations.

The OBR expects expansion of 1.2% this year and 1% next. This underscores assumptions of a rocky few months ahead; not a recession but certainly a dent to growth as sustained higher energy prices bite.

Winter is coming, and it may not be cosy.

Beyond that (and the predictions presumably assume the war is not prolonged by much more), the forecasts underscore that there’s more to be done to boost growth back to the kind of average rates seen prior to the 2008 financial crisis.

What is the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)? The OBR is the UK’s official public finances watchdog. It releases forecasts for the economy and public finances twice a year, alongside the Autumn Budget and Spring Statement.

Healey says he wants businesses to invest, to recruit, to expand and is therefore taking action to support highstreets.

He announces an increase in the threshold for small business rate relief for retail hospitality and leisure businesses from £12,000 to £18,000.

This means 70,000 businesses will be taken out of paying business rates altogether, Healey adds.

He says this will be funded by raising taxes on gambling.

Healey is listing some of the smaller measures in the Budget which were already announced.

These include:

• Suspending tariffs on over 100 supermarket products
• The new Pension Tax Allowance: pensioners with income up to the value of the full new state pension will not pay income tax "in this Parliament"
• Carers Allowance, so people don’t lose their entire allowance when they earn over the threshold
• Minimum Wage: Increasing both the National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage by 3.9% "for 2.3 million of our lowest paid workers"
• Paternity leave: Self-employed fathers and partners will be eligible for paid parental leave