Issued by: Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street

Prime Minister Keir Starmer will pledge that his government’s first Budget will put Britain on a new path, one that chooses long-term growth to put more money in working people’s pockets and rebuild public services instead of a return to austerity.

• Prime Minister will say government’s first Budget will fix the foundations to deliver on the promise of change.

• Keir Starmer will reject austerity, chaos and decline in favour of economic stability, investment and reform.

• He will pledge ‘better days are ahead’ with an economic plan that will rebuild Britain and deliver sustainable, long-term investment to put more money in people’s pockets and deliver stronger public services.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer will today (Monday 28 October) pledge that his government’s first Budget will put Britain on a new path, one that chooses long-term growth to put more money in working people’s pockets and rebuild public services instead of a return to austerity.

Setting out the defining and central purpose of the government’s agenda to protect working people from the dire inheritance, he will say:

“It is working people who pay the price when their government fails to deliver economic stability. They’ve had enough of slow growth, stagnant living standards and crumbling public services. They know that austerity is no solution. And they’ve seen the chaos when politicians let borrowing get out of control.

“We choose a different path: honest, responsible, long-term decisions in the interests of working people. It’s stability that means we can invest, and reform that will maximise that investment.

“Stability, investment, reform. That’s how we fix the NHS, rebuild Britain and protect working people’s payslips. Delivering on the mandate of change.”

The Prime Minister will say that the country faces unprecedented challenges after the last government covered up the state of the public finances and crumbling public services:

“We have to be realistic about where we are as a country. This is not 1997, when the economy was decent but public services were on their knees. And it’s not 2010, where public services were strong, but the public finances were weak. These are unprecedented circumstances.

“And that’s before we even get to the long-term challenges ignored for fourteen years. An economy riddled with weakness on productivity and investment. A state that needs urgent modernisation to face down the challenge of a volatile world.

“But I won’t offer it as an excuse. I expect to be judged on my ability to deal with this. Politics is always a choice. It’s time to choose a clear path, and embrace the harsh light of fiscal reality so we can come together behind a credible, long-term plan. It’s time we ran towards the tough decisions, because ignoring them set us on the path of decline. It’s time we ignored the populist chorus of easy answers… we’re never going back to that.”

Setting out his economic plan to drive growth across the country, the Prime Minister will say fixing the foundations through stability and investment brings benefits to everyone:

“If people want to criticise the path we choose, that’s their prerogative. But let them then spell out a different direction. If they think the state has grown too big, let them tell working people which public services they would cut. If they don’t see our long-term investment in infrastructure as necessary, let them explain to working people how they would grow the economy for them.

“This is an economic plan that will change the long-term trajectory on British growth for the better.

“We are tackling the biggest challenges in our economy. Higher investment – we’re dealing with it. Planning – we’re reforming it. The labour market – we’re getting people back to work, but also making work pay. On competition, we’re stripping out the needless regulation that holds back growth and private investment. And all of this built on that foundation, economic stability.

“This is what fixing the foundations and delivering change means. Everyone in this country will benefit from this. Everyone can wake up on Thursday and understand that a new future is being built, a better future.”

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