Last week’s audit of public spending has fuelled speculation about potential tax hikes in the forthcoming budget. Reeves warned of “difficult decisions across spending, welfare and tax” but also expressed a desire to reduce Britain’s overall tax burden. “I want to bring that tax burden down because I want to make Britain the best place to start and grow a business and I want working people to keep more of their own money in their pockets,” she stated.
When asked about increasing capital gains tax, Reeves ducked the question again, “it’s always important when you’re deciding tax policy to strike the right balance.”
Reeves’ itinerary includes meetings with executives from companies like cloud computing firm CoreWeave, to promote data centre construction in the UK. The government is also reviewing decisions on data centres in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.
The Chancellor’s visit is part of a broader effort to restore confidence among international investors after years of political instability and Brexit-related issues. The UK government has announced an international investment summit on October 14 as part of this initiative, with attendees including CEOs from Blackstone, BNY Mellon, and CyrusOne.
Additionally, Reeves has not dismissed the idea of excluding losses linked to the Bank of England from the government’s debt calculations, a move that could create £16 billion in fiscal headroom by 2028-29 according to Bloomberg Economics estimates.
