John Healey

Since 2022, we have been paying that Truss penalty as we battle to re-establish belief in Britain and the UK’s fiscal sustainability.

The prime minister and I are in lockstep in our commitment to meeting the fiscal rules at the upcoming Budget, to balancing the books with a buffer to protect against uncertainty.

If I respond to speculation now, that will only fuel more speculation, and it's quite right.

I want to see this country as a country of wealth creation. I want our government decisions and policies to raise the levels of confidence, and investment, and profit in British business.

Whether it is the cost of business or the cost of living, the only way we deal with these in the long term is growth.

Let me be clear. I recognise that the cost of business – that’s energy bills, regulation burdens, planning constraints, labour costs – have grown since Covid. And I want to draw the line.

This is not sentimentality, it’s supply side economics.

[We are] deeply concerned about the cost of living and cost to business. In the long run the only way that you deal with that is greater growth. I put growth at the heart of my commitment. This is my mission as chancellor.

A person coming off benefits and into work saves the taxpayer money. And that becomes a win-win when those people start paying tax themselves.

I want to be the chancellor that gets things done and I want to see growth driven from more places across the UK.

UK borrowing costs are too high.

Staying true to our values means being honest about the need to control government spending.

My defining mission as chancellor is growth, good growth in every postcode. And I've set out today the way this government will set about it: more devolution, more public leadership and control, more investment, more innovation, more jobs.

Both he and the Prime Minister were 'in lockstep in our determination to meet the fiscal rules

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].

I know that some of the decisions I must take – and will take – will show the benefits in years to come.

We must cut the cost of welfare, we have to get more people back into work.

The country’s under pressure. People are under pressure with the cost of living. Households are feeling that.

What’s happening in the Middle East is hitting inflation, it’s hitting growth, it’s hitting borrowing costs.

Our commitment to stand with the Ukrainian people is unshakeable. We will bear down on those propping up Putin’s war as we push to secure a just and lasting peace.

And so I’m here to work with international partner nations to deepen our economic resilience, to deliver good growth and also to give families and businesses just a bit of breathing space.

But no country can face these pressures alone. And these shocks are being felt worldwide. They’ve been felt in people’s pockets, in their weekly shops, filling up their cars.

Britain faces these global pressures from a position of relative strength, the fastest growth in the G7 advanced nations in the first half of this year, the deficit being cut faster than in any other G7 country,

We build on that, but it is not easy. It is not easy in a world in which you see global conflict, increasing dangers.