Healey says economic growth must extend beyond UK’s biggest cities

Chancellor John Healey says Britain’s growth must extend beyond its biggest cities as he prepares to outline his economic agenda.

In a major speech on Monday, the Chancellor is expected to outline plans aimed at driving long-term development across the country, ahead of his first Budget on October 28.

Writing in Sunday People, Mr Healey said his plan would seek to deliver progress by supporting local government and town centres.

“But not growth for its own sake – not a number on a spreadsheet. And not reserved for our biggest cities. This is about growth in every postcode,” he wrote.

“Factories across Britain taking on young people. Small business owners finally being able to expand. Town centres and high streets seeing new life.”

Mr Healey said: “Britain already has the strengths it needs to succeed – global financial centres, cutting-edge science and technology, world-class universities, and communities full of ambition. So the question is: What’s stopping us?

“Tomorrow I’ll set out my plan to deliver good growth in every postcode by making the most of Britain’s strengths.

“We’re putting mayors, local government, entrepreneurs and investors at the heart of this plan.”

The comments came a day after Mr Healey also told the Financial Times he would ensure the UK emerges from his first Budget with a solid “buffer against uncertainty”.

He warned the Budget could be tough, as US President Donald Trump’s war in the Middle East affects the British economy.

Economists have predicted that the fiscal buffer Rachel Reeves built up in her last budget, through a combination of tax rises and departmental spending cuts, will be squeezed by the inflationary pressures of ongoing global turmoil.

This could limit Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s ambitions to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, and spending plans across his wider agenda for Government.

The Chancellor told the FT: “What’s happening in the Middle East is hitting inflation, it’s hitting growth, it’s hitting borrowing costs.”

He added: “It’s part of a more dangerous world that is more uncertain and it’s one of the challenges we have to meet in this country, but have to meet with other (countries).”