Rachel Reeves’ Spending Review in full from asylum seekers to the NHS | Politics | News

Rachel Reeves outlined exactly how she will spend taxpayer cash during her Spending Review today.

The Chancellor announced a whole raft of measures which include £280 million more spend until 2029 to solve the asylum seeker crisis, £30 billion for nuclear projects and a £29bn rise for the NHS.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the spending review marks the start of a “new phase” of his government. But critics warned the state of the public finances meant further tax rises were “almost inevitable” when Ms Reeves delivers her budget in the autumn.

Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said “this is the spend-now, tax-later review” adding Ms Reeves “knows she will need to come back here in the autumn with yet more taxes and a cruel summer of speculation awaits”.

Take a look at the full rundown of what was announced today below:

Asylum seekers

Ms Reeves promised funding of up to £280m more per year by the end of the spending review period in 2028-29 for the new Border Security Command and committed to end spending on hotels for asylum seekers by the next election.

She said: “We will be ending the costly use of hotels to house asylum seekers in this Parliament”, with funding to cut the asylum backlog, hear more appeal cases and return those with no right to be in the UK.

She says it will save £1 billion a year.

AI & Research

R&D funding will rise to a record high of £22bn per year by the end of the spending review. She also confirms £2bn for the government’s AI action plan to boost jobs and investment.

An uplift of £1.2bn total departmental expenditure limit (DEL) investment is being provided to the Deportment for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), with a focus on digital public infrastructure and modernising public services through the power of AI.

Policing

The Justice Secretary is getting £7bn for 14,000 new prison places. £700m a year into reform of the probation service too.

Police spending power is boosted by 2.3% in real terms over the next three years – £2bn extra.

This will help provide 13,000 extra neighbourhood policing roles.

Energy

Reeves announced a £30 billion commitment to nuclear power. This includes £14.2 billion to build the Sizewell C plant in Suffolk.

A further £2.5 billion will go towards small modular reactors (SMRs). Britain’s spending on SMRs will ensure the UK is at the “forefront of a global race for new nuclear technologies”, the Chancellor said.

SMRs, sometimes called “mini nukes”, work on the same principle as large reactors, using a nuclear reaction to generate heat that produces electricity. The preferred partner for the project is Rolls-Royce. The same amount will be spent on nuclear fusion.

Ms Reeves said: “This investment is just one step towards our ambition for a full fleet of small modular reactors as well as providing a route for private sector-led advanced modular reactor projects to be deployed in the UK,” the Chancellor told MPs.

She added it would “strengthen Britain’s position at the forefront of a global race for new nuclear technologies”. The Chancellor said the Government would also support the Acorn project for carbon capture in Scotland.

Housing

The Chancellor has plans to invest £39 billion over the next 10 years to build affordable and social housing. Speaking in the Commons on Wednesday, she said: “I am proud to announce the biggest cash injection into social and affordable housing in 50 years. A new Affordable Homes Programme – in which I am investing £39bn over the next decade.

“Direct government funding that will support housebuilding, especially for social rent and I am pleased to report that towns and cities including Blackpool, Preston, Sheffield and Swindon already have plans to bring forward bids to build new houses.”

The Chancellor said she was also providing an additional £10bn for financial investments to be delivered through Homes England. She said she hopes that the move will bring in private investment and unlock hundreds of thousands more homes.

But London’s Labour Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan took aim at the Chancellor over a lack of funding for homes in the Capital.

He said: “It’s also disappointing that there is no commitment today from the Treasury to invest in the new infrastructure London needs. Projects such as extending the Docklands Light Railway not only deliver economic growth across the country, but also tens of thousands of new affordable homes and jobs for Londoners. Unless the Government invests in infrastructure like this in our capital, we will not be able to build the numbers of new affordable homes Londoners need.”

Meanwhile £13bn will go towards upgrading millions of homes with improved insulation.

Education

Ms Reeves also confirmed free school meals will be extended to over half a million more children. It comes from the adding VAT to private school meals. She also highlights new breakfast clubs with the rollout starting with 750 schools “so no child goes hungry”.

Reeves also announces £370m for school-based nurseries to ensure children are school-ready. £555m will be allocated for transformation funding so children don’t go needlessly into care when they could stay at home.

£130m will be allocated to fund facilities for young people for music sport and drama, as well as libraries in schools.

Transport

In terms of transport, the Chancellor announced a £2.5bn investment in a major new rail project connecting Oxford and Cambridge. The funding will support the continued delivery of the East-West Rail line, aimed at boosting travel and economic links between the two historic cities.

The East West Rail project aims to reconnect Oxford and Cambridge by rail for the first time since the original Varsity Line was closed in the 1960s. The scheme will eventually provide a direct route between the two cities via Bletchley, Milton Keynes and Bedford.

The line is being delivered in three stages. The first – linking Oxford and Bletchley – is already under construction and expected to open to passengers in 2025. The second stage, connecting Bletchley and Bedford, is set to follow shortly afterwards. The final section, running from Bedford to Cambridge, was given the green light this week.

The government is also investing in other rail projects around the country, including £3.5bn for the Transpennine Route Upgrade – the “backbone of rail travel in the North”, linking York, Leeds and Manchester.

a major rail project aimed at improving the line between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York, with electrification, faster trains and better reliability. Work is already underway, with full completion expected in the 2030s. Northern Powerhouse Rail is a separate long-term plan to build a new high-speed line between Manchester and Leeds via Bradford.

Defence

The Ministry of Defence is expected to reap the rewards of the review, with funding rising from 2.3% of GDP to 2.6% by 2027. This is equivalent to a £11bn boost on top of a £600m rise for security agencies.

Munitions investment will stand at £4.5bn and more than £6bn spent on nuclear submarine production.

The majority of the extra spend – 3.8% up until 2029 – will be on capital spending such as infrastructure.

NHS

The NHS will get a £29bn uplift, which is an annual rise of 3%.

The Chancellor announced an increase in the the NHS technology budget by almost 50% and a further £10bn to bring the “analogue health system into the digital age”.

Training and apprenticeships

Ministers will spend extra money on training and apprenticeships to stop people being “turned away at the door”. A £1.2bn funding increase will help people “thrive in the industries of the future”, the Chancellor told the Commons on Wednesday.

She listed careers including scientists, engineers, designers as well as builders, welders and electricians. Ms Reeves said: “I know the ambition, the drive, the potential of our young people.

“And it cannot be right that too often those ambitions and that potential are stifled when young people who want training find courses oversubscribed turned away at the door forcing growing businesses, eager to recruit that talent, to look elsewhere. Potential wasted and enterprise frustrated.”