Budget 2024: when is the UK Autumn Budget, next Labour Budget under Rachel Reeves, October date - energy news

• Chancellor Rachel Reeves will address the Labour Party conference
• Reeves is set to deliver the first Labour Budget on 30 October
• Labour’s Budget may include tax changes - Reeves has not ruled out potential hikes in inheritance or capital gains tax.=
• The government’s decision to means-test the Winter Fuel Allowance has sparked controversy
• Reeves has defended the decision as necessary to avoid financial instability

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will address the Labour Party conference later today (23 September), and will attempt to strike a more upbeat tone following months of stressing the need to take “tough decisions” to deal with the legacy she inherited from the Tories.

In August, Sir Keir Starmer warned that his government’s upcoming Budget will be “painful,” urging the nation to “accept short-term pain for long-term good”.

In a speech delivered in the Downing Street rose garden on 27 August, the Prime Minister said his Government has achieved more in seven weeks than the previous Conservative administration did in seven years.

But he also warned that the situation is graver than anticipated due to a £22 billion “black hole” in public finances, revealing that the Tories had borrowed nearly £5 billion more than the Office for Budget Responsibility had projected.

He said: “There is a Budget coming in October, and it’s going to be painful. We have no other choice, given the situation that we’re in.”

Reeves’ keynote speech will not be the Autumn Budget, but could give strong indications of what will be in when it does come around.

She has insisted she is optimistic about the UK’s economic future, and has attempted to persuade critics that there will be no return to austerity under Labour.

When is the next Autumn Budget?

The next Autumn Budget is expected to be announced on Wednesday 30 October 2024.

It will be a budget of firsts: the first budget set out by the new Labour government, and the first from current Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who is also the first female Chancellor of the Exchequer in history.

It will be the first Budget laid out by a Labour government since March 2010, when the late Alistair Darling outlined the party’s fiscal policies ahead of the 2010 general election.

What will be in it?

Until Rachel Reeves stands in the House of Commons and delivers her first Budget on 30 October, we won’t know for sure exactly what it might contain.

But Reeves has said her plan “will be about protecting living standards, fixing the National Health Service, and then, crucially, about rebuilding Britain”.

“Because we can’t keep cutting investment spending, which is what the previous Conservative government did, and that chokes off the private investment that is necessary to grow our economy.

“We need that infrastructure, the housing, the energy infrastructure, the digital infrastructure, the research labs.

“I want them here in Britain, there’s a global race on for some of the jobs and industries of the future, whether it’s in life sciences, low carbon energy or tech.”

In August, the Prime Minister also gave us a hint as to what the Budget might container, saying it would be “painful” but that Labour has “no other choice, given the situation that we’re in.

“Those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden, and that’s why we’re cracking down on non-doms.

“Those who made the mess should have to do their bit to clean it up – that’s why we’re strengthening the powers of the water regulator and backing tough fines on the water companies that let sewage flood our rivers, lakes and seas.”

When pressed on what tax rises and spending decisions the Government is considering to announce, the Prime Minister said he was “not going to pre-empt the Budget”, though he reiterated his pledge on the “triple lock for working people”.

That’s Sir Keir’s pre-election promise that national insurance, VAT and income tax will not go up. But could other taxes - like inheritance tax - rise?

At the time of Sir Keir remarks, Reeves declined to rule out an inheritance tax hike when questioned on tax increases during a visit to central Scotland. She told broadcasters she would be making “difficult decisions in a range of areas”.

Asked directly whether she could rule out an increase in inheritance and capital gains tax, she replied: “I’m not going to write a Budget two months ahead of delivering it. We’re going to have to make difficult decisions in a range of areas.”

Will there be a Winter Fuel Allowance U-turn?

The decision to turn the Winter Fuel Allowance - which offers up to £300 to vulnerable people to aid with winter heating costs - into a means-tested benefit has proved controversial in the early weeks of this Labour government.

Previously, the allowance was available to all pensioners, but from this year it will only be offered to pensioners who are already receiving pension credits or other benefits. Around 10 million pensioners will miss out on payments of up to £300 this year.

The move was already divisive, but then Ofgem revealed that average energy bills would be going up by 10% under the new Energy Price Cap which takes effect from October.

Gillian Cooper, director of energy at Citizens Advice, said: “We’ve braced ourselves for a challenging winter but [the] price cap increase will no doubt see even more people fall behind on their energy bills.

“Energy bills will now be around two-thirds higher than before the crisis, and with record levels of energy debt and the removal of previous support, people are in desperate need.”

Rachel Reeves has so far defended the decision to restrict winter fuel payments despite rising energy bills, and has said not doing so” would have made it difficult for the Government to finance its needs.”

She added: “We would have ended him up in the same position that the previous Conservative government ended up in, with mortgage rates and interest rates spiking and pensions being put in peril.”

Likewise, the Prime Minister has also said that he “didn’t want to means-test” the payment, but said it was a “choice we had to make” to help “repair the public finances”.

But calls for a reversal of the change are growing louder. Former prime minister Rishi Sunak is one of several MPs to have signed an Early Day Motion (EDM), urging the Government to back down on its policy to end the universal winter fuel payment for pensioners.

The pressure could influence the government’s approach, especially if it becomes a central issue in political discourse, but a complete reversal of the policy seems unlikely given current financial pressures.

However, the government might consider adjustments or targeted support measures to alleviate the impact on those most affected, a compromise that addresses public concern while still aiming to meet fiscal objectives.

What are your thoughts on the upcoming Budget and the government’s approach to handling the deficit? How will rising energy costs will impact vulnerable households? Share your opinions and join the discussion in the comments section.