The chancellor Sajid Javid will deliver his spending review in early September, the Treasury announced today. A planned speech by Javid on the economy and Brexit is also “postponed”.
The Treasury announced in August that a “fast-tracked” review, covering one year of government spending, will be complete in September. Today’s announcement confirms it is being brought forward by a few weeks.
The announcement fuels speculation that Boris Johnson’s government is preparing to call a snap general election to deal with the Brexit crisis. The government insists it is working to secure a new deal with the EU before the 31st October deadline.
September’s spending review will set budgets for government departments and the devolved administrations for the next financial year. The chancellor says it will accommodate pledges made by the prime minister since he took office, such as recruiting 20,000 more police officers.
Javid is also planning to stick to existing budget guidelines by keeping annual borrowing under 2% of gross domestic product.
Announcing the spending review in August, the chancellor said:
“We will get Brexit done by October 31 and put our country on the road to a brighter future.
The Prime Minister and I have asked for a fast-tracked Spending Round for September to set departmental budgets for next year.
This will clear the ground ahead of Brexit while delivering on people’s priorities.”
