John Healey

Healey is expected to raise the bank surcharge from 3% to 8% in the October 28 Budget, reversing Jeremy Hunt's cuts and generating roughly £2.25bn a year to offset borrowing costs and conflict-linked damage to the public finances. The TUC wants a far higher rate to recover the £6bn it says Rishi Sunak's 2023 bank tax cuts cost the public purse, while JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon warns further levies risk UK jobs and could scrap a proposed £3bn London headquarters. Healey frames the choice as reprioritisation, saying banks are 'hardwired into the economic fabric of this country and our future prospects.'

Healey is writing the October 28 Budget directly with Prime Minister Andy Burnham to close a £12bn public finance gap attributed to Iran war inflation and borrowing costs, with energy bill reductions and fiscal devolution as stated priorities. He has promised 'breathing space' while warning that government resources are limited, with roughly £1bn in extra support expected for poorer households ahead of a projected £400 January price cap rise. The TUC says households have paid an average £13,961 in extra mortgage, loan, energy and water costs since 2021, and Labour insiders grumble that Downing Street's immediate gestures, from regulating car-parking apps to unbranded school uniforms, lack structural ambition.

At the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok, Healey declared himself in 'lockstep' with Burnham on balancing non-investment spending with tax revenue by 2029/30, insisting 'I will meet those fiscal rules.' The IMF's fiscal affairs director Rodrigo Valdés publicly advised his government to 'stay the course' on consolidation rather than accelerate deficit reduction, backing his plan to fund the Budget's initiatives, from winter fuel assistance to cancelled January and March fuel duty rises, through cuts or taxes rather than borrowing. With the IMF raising its UK inflation forecast to 3.3% for 2026, Healey defended the economy as forecast to be the joint second fastest-growing G7 nation in 2026, with the lowest G7 deficit by 2031.

Healey plans a £1bn crackdown on online marketplaces including Amazon, eBay and Temu, requiring platforms to collect VAT at source for sellers above £90,000 to stop foreign retailers avoiding UK tax and to fund business rate breaks for high street shops; it replaced a warehouse tax he dropped after retail criticism, and Amazon backs it while estimating it will raise closer to £700m. He is still weighing doubling machine games duty from 20% to 40%, which the Social Market Foundation estimates could raise £460m, against Betfred founder Fred Done's signed warning of 1,470 betting shop closures, 34 casinos and 15,900 job losses, and separate warnings from Entain and Rank Group of 16,000 jobs and 1,500 betting shops at risk. RPI-linked vehicle excise duty rises extending April's increases are also expected.

Healey announced a £17m UK pledge for critical repairs to the Chernobyl plant's protective shelter and ventilation systems, coordinated through the EBRD after Russian drone damage, framing it with Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband as part of Britain's commitment to Ukraine's reconstruction and security during Zelensky's Downing Street visit. He is developing a package of military, diplomatic and economic support for Ukraine to counter Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, saying 'the future of Ukraine is the future of European security,' and attended the Bangkok meetings with Miliband setting UK priorities ahead of next year's G20 presidency. His £15bn defence investment plan requires £4.7bn of departmental savings over four years, with Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh tasked with more than £2bn, including hundreds of millions cut from the heat pump boiler upgrade scheme.