Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 10, 2025
4 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleBritain's spending review allocates funds to NHS, housing, defence, and nuclear projects, setting budgets until 2029. Key investments aim to boost public services and economic growth.
LONDON (Reuters) -British finance minister Rachel Reeves announced her first multi-year spending review on Wednesday, dividing up more than 2 trillion pounds ($2.7 trillion) of public money between her ministerial colleagues and setting their budgets until 2029.
Below is what the government has announced:
DEPARTMENTAL BUDGETS
Reeves announced that departmental budgets across government would grow by 2.3% in real terms, offering a further 190 billion pounds more to the day-to-day running of public services over the course of the spending review compared with the previous Conservative government's plans.
HEALTH SPENDING
Reeves said the state-run National Health Service would receive an extra investment of 29 billion pounds per year for day-to-day spending, which she called a "record cash investment".
She said this would increase the spending on the health service by 3% for each year of the spending review.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Reeves announced an additional 10 billion pound investment to build thousands more homes in England.
The announcement was on top of a 39 billion pound 10-year programme to build lower-cost housing announced on Tuesday that nearly doubled the annual spending on affordable housing.
BORDER SECURITY
Reeves announced plans to give an extra 280 million pounds per year to the Border Security Command, which brings together staff from the police, the domestic intelligence agency and prosecutors to work with international agencies to stop people smuggling.
She also said the government would end the use of costly hotels to house asylum seekers by 2029 to deter people arriving on the south coast of England in small boats, in a move which could save 1 billion pounds a year.
DEFENCE SPENDING
Reeves confirmed the government would increase defence spending to 2.6% of GDP by 2027, including an extra 600 million pounds for Britain's security and intelligence agencies.
Britain will invest more than 6 billion pounds in its submarine building capacity, supporting firms such as defence groups BAE Systems and engineering multinational Rolls-Royce.
The investment, which will cover the spending review period, will help companies deliver the increase in submarine production rate announced by the government.
SCOTLAND, WALES AND NORTHERN IRELAND
Reeves announced 52 billion pounds of investment for Scotland, 23 billion for Wales and 20 billion for Northern Ireland.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Reeves will allocate 86 billion pounds to fund research and development.
The package, funding everything from new drug treatments and longer-lasting batteries to artificial intelligence breakthroughs, will be worth more than 22.5 billion pounds a year by 2029/30, driving new jobs and economic growth, the government said.
NUCLEAR POWER
The government will invest a further 14.2 billion pounds to build the Sizewell C nuclear plant in eastern England. The funding takes the total government commitment to 17.8 billion pounds, with 3.6 billion invested before the review.
It also pledged 2.5 billion pounds for a programme to develop a fleet of small modular nuclear plants over the next four years and named Rolls-Royce SMR as its preferred bidder.
Britain says new nuclear projects will replace ageing plants, boost energy security, help it reach climate targets and create new jobs.
TRANSPORT PROJECTS
Reeves has committed 15.6 billion pounds towards transport projects in cities outside London that have long suffered from underinvestment. Most of the investment was earmarked by the previous, Conservative government.
POLICE AND PRISONS
Reeves said that she would increase police spending power by more than 2 billion pounds over the course of the spending review. The government previously announced an extra investment of 4 billion pounds to build new prisons as the government scrambles to tackle a prison overcrowding crisis.
($1 = 0.7399 pounds)
(Reporting by Catarina Demony, Muvija M and Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Alex Richardson and Hugh Lawson)
Reeves announced that departmental budgets across government would grow by 2.3% in real terms, offering a further 190 billion pounds for public services.
The National Health Service will receive an extra investment of 29 billion pounds per year for day-to-day spending, which represents a 3% increase each year of the spending review.
An additional 10 billion pounds will be invested to build more homes in England, alongside a 39 billion pound 10-year programme for lower-cost housing.
Defence spending will be increased to 2.6% of GDP by 2027, including an additional 600 million pounds for security and intelligence agencies.
Reeves has committed 15.6 billion pounds towards transport projects in cities outside London, addressing long-standing underinvestment in these areas.
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