Devolution deals and extra cost-of-living support were welcomed, but the Budget failed to address systemic funding issues in local government, sector bodies have warned.
The Conservative Party “will always protect public services”, the chancellor insisted as he announced his ambition to cut civil service numbers back to their pre-pandemic level.
The Budget contained billions of pounds of tax cuts for businesses and measures aimed at getting people back to work, but elephants in the room such as public sector pay and struggling services...
Researchers have warned that despite some economic good news the chancellor might have “less fiscal room for manoeuvre” in the upcoming Budget than it appears.
The government’s approach of funding social care simply in order to relieve the NHS shows it has the wrong perspective on the importance of care services, peers have said.
Jeremy Hunt sent a welcome strong signal to the markets but has not fixed any of the major problems facing the public sector, according to CIPFA chief executive Rob Whiteman.
The autumn statement may have created as many problems as it did solutions for the government, says Dan Corry, chief executive of the think-tank New Philanthropy Capital and former Number 10 adviser.
