John Healey

Fiscal discipline has been the bedrock of the government that I was part of for the first couple of years, as a Labour government since July 2024.

I want everyone from apprentices, IT staff and junior officials to senior economists and private secretaries to contribute to the exercise.

As G20 countries seek to make the most of AI opportunities, I’m determined Britain has a lead role in harnessing this technology to drive more jobs, better public services, and growth that’s UK-wide.

I’m determined Britain has a lead role in harnessing this technology to drive more jobs, better public services, and growth that’s UK-wide.

This first-of-its-kind competition will help make sure more of the benefits of AI are felt in every UK postcode.

Britain is home to some of the most innovative AI companies in the world, and this Government is backing them to start, scale and succeed here in the UK.

We simply can’t deal with the problems we face as a country by maxing out the country’s credit card.

It’s the bedrock for economic stability.

As we have regularly discussed, I am certain that a headmark date for 3% of GDP on defence in 2030 is what Britain must set.

We’re a government that just is getting on with getting things done and that includes on growth

Fiscal discipline is the bedrock of our UK economic stability and national security, which is why we are committed to meeting our fiscal rules, with a buffer against global uncertainties.

Demonstrated across a range of fronts that we’re a government that just is getting on with getting things done and that includes on growth

We are cutting the deficit faster than any other G7 economy, while giving people a bit of breathing space with cost of living pressures and focusing support to get young people into work.

As the new chancellor, John Healey, weighs the price of energy support for struggling households, however, he will have to contend with higher borrowing costs.

We have cut VAT on electricity bills and capped bus fares at £2 - to give breathing space to those feeling the strain.

We’ve seen the fastest growth in the G7 this year, but we now need to double down and drive growth in every postcode.

This is an active, hands-on government, putting British interests first – giving breathing space to those feeling the strain, making our country more resilient and bringing hope back.

I know people are worried about the impact of the conflict in the Middle East on their cost of living, which has been too high for too long and it has added pressure on British businesses.

I will oversee strong fiscal discipline

I am confident Labour can honour a commitment to increase defence spending and make the decisions that allow us to set out a long-term plan to make our forces better equipped to fight and to deter the threats we face.

Conflict and uncertainty increases inflation, threatens growth and pushes up costs for businesses and governments alike.

But it also threatens our economic security: impacting the family finances of millions of British people.

The conflict affects our national security, our UK bases, personnel and allies in the Middle East.

What we can do is be an active, hands-on Government that puts British interests first – giving breathing space to those feeling financial strain and making our country more resilient so we can better weather these shocks in the future.

Being frank, we can’t completely stop the squeeze that families and businesses will feel with a global shock of this scale.