Goodbye. Officially, Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will announce Labour’s first budget (and perhaps the most important in the entire parliament) on Wednesday next week. But in practice, budget announcements are now in the news every two weeks, because the Treasury knows that scaring the markets with lots of surprises on the same day is a bad idea and that is why the current government, like previous governments, is engaging in a promotional strategy that complicated. , ensuring that there is enough advance reporting to provide a broad picture of what will happen. Not all the stories you read this week about budget numbers will be accurate or approved by the Treasury Department, but many of them will be.

One widely debated measure is a proposal to change the official definition of debt used in the government’s fiscal regulations. Reeves has been hinting for some time that he will change this and today, at the IMF meeting in Washington, he will confirm this.

The government has committed to seeing a reduction in the proportion of debt to national income by the fifth year of the economic forecast (i.e. five years from now). The last government used to define debt as public sector net debt (PSND), but when Rishi Sunak became chancellor he changed it to underlying PSND, i.e. PSND excluding Bank of England liabilities. This is the definition currently in use.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies recently published good role explains what alternative definitions Reeves might choose, and currently Larry Elliott, Pippa Crerar And Richard Partington said it would vote for public sector net financial obligations (PSNFL). They say in their story:

This criterion – which would replace public sector net debt – would take into account all government financial assets and liabilities, including student loans and shares in private companies, as well as funded pension plans.

This will provide room for the chancellor to increase borrowing for long-term infrastructure investment…

Has [Conservative chancellor Jeremy] Hunt adopted the PSNFL target in March, and will add around £53 billion to his lending space.

Keir Starmer was at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Samoa and, as Eleni Korea In his report, he was asked whether he was worried that changing the definition of debt would scare off investors. star answer:

The Chancellor made clear, both in his speech at the conference and afterwards, his desire to see more investment in the economy.

It is a well-known fact that investors in the UK have previously said that UK investment levels are too low both in terms of public infrastructure and in terms of business investment in general.

Starmer said the overall budget would be “unabashedly pro-business.” He says:

Investors don’t need to worry about this budget. This government prioritizes growth. It is unabashedly pro-business.

You can see from the landmark vote of confidence in the UK economy at the international investment summit that it is true that investors are responding positively to the government’s plans.

He also said his administration’s first budget would be “significant” and “provide a picture of how we intend to do business.”

Here’s today’s agenda.

09:30: Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden answers questions in the House of Commons.

11:30: Downing Road held a briefing in the lobby.

Afternoon: Angela Rayner, Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, delivered a speech to the Local Government Association.

Afternoon (UK time): Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, was in New York to attend the IMF’s annual meeting and had to give a television interview.

Also, Football Governance Bill presented today in the House of Lords.

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