By GB News (Politics) | Created at 2026-08-05 06:56:48 | Updated at 2026-08-05 08:20:21
1 hour ago
Labour is set to exploit the UK's fiscal rules in order to increase borrowing to a staggering £9billion-a-year in an effort to kickstart the economy.
Top Treasury insiders are hopeful that relaxing the rules could free up some opportunity to boost spending in a bid to create "growth in every postcode".
Upon entering No10, Andy Burnham announced he was eyeing up some "flexibility" in the fiscal rules while sources insist Chancellor John Healey placed fiscal discipline as his "No1 priority".
The new mechanism could mean the Government could allow spending on "assets" to be offset against borrowing costs, allowing ministers to act without abiding by the rules.
Elliott Christensen, a senior economist at the Resolution Foundation think tank, said: "Rachel Reeves’s changes to the fiscal rules mean that the Government now has greater scope to address that challenge by making productive investments in the economy that in the long run will pay for themselves.
"The new Chancellor should start by boosting the scale of the National Wealth Fund [which] would mean an additional £9billion annual investment by 2031 in real terms."
"As a result we think that the bond markets will consider them as credible commercial market investment and not materially push up the cost of borrowing," he added.
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Fresh Labour donations row as Yvette Cooper rakes in staggering sum from private healthcare-linked mogul
Labour has been drawn into a fresh donations row after Yvette Cooper was revealed to have received hundreds of thousands of pounds from a private healthcare-linked donor.
The new Health Secretary received nearly half a million pounds from businessman Peter Hearn over the course of a decade, who held a significant stake in recruitment firm Odgers Berndtson, which headhunted for the NHS and private healthcare firms.
Odgers Berndtson has helped the NHS hire high-ranking executives across a number of senior roles - including former TalkTalk chief Baroness Harding, who led the controversial Test and Trace programme during the pandemic.
Between 2015 and 2024, Ms Cooper received £248,619 from the businessman directly, as well as £220,623 from two of his companies, MPM Connect and OPD Group, the British Medical Journal revealed.
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Aileen O’Connor, the chairwoman of the body, said releasing Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers onto the streets would anger and demoralise the morale of serving officers in the area.
PC Harper, 28, was killed in August 2019 as he responded to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire.
Labour, under Mr Burnham, has exempted rapists and serious sexual abusers from the early release scheme - but not his killers.
