Treasury probes suspected budget leak as Healey unveils devolution plan to hand power back to cities
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Chancellor John Healey’s first budget promises more money kept locally for London mayor Sadiq Khan and other city leaders, while the Treasury is under pressure to investigate how details of a bank tax rise surfaced early.
Chancellor John Healey delivered his first budget to the House of Commons, setting out a package of fiscal measures framed as relief for households under relentless cost-of-living pressure and as a long-overdue transfer of power away from Westminster to city leaders. He announced that revenue from business rates and income tax would be retained locally, giving London mayor Sadiq Khan and other city mayors more scope to finance major infrastructure projects. The package also includes an increase in the small-business rates relief threshold for hospitality firms and a £10 million alcohol duty relief for smaller brewers.
Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Commons Treasury Committee, wrote to Treasury Permanent Secretary James Bowler and the Financial Conduct Authority, demanding an account of how a Bloomberg report that accurately forecast a temporary rise in bank taxes appeared in the public domain before the budget announcement. Hillier said the report had moved markets and pressed for an urgent investigation into the leak.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham defended the budget, pointing to measures such as a council-tax cut for 20 million households, the removal of business-rates liabilities for 70,000 firms, and a planned VAT exemption on electricity bills. He said the fiscal rules had been met and insisted the economy would improve under the government’s plans.
Opposition figures offered reactions: Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he stayed away from the Commons to avoid a potential conflict, while Green Party MP Dr Ellie Chowns said the budget lacked ambition on climate action and wealth taxation.
The Treasury has not yet commented on the alleged leak.