Chancellor John Healey will announce more than £1bn in funding for social and affordable housing in England on Wednesday, bringing total funding for the government's 10-year homes programme past £40bn.
Healey will also give mayors and regional leaders across England greater powers and funding to make investment decisions. An initial £285m in transitional seed funding will be allocated next year to support local authorities and reduce reliance on government bidding processes, according to the Treasury. From 2028, mayors will access a new £1.5bn borrowing facility at preferential interest rates to fund local priorities including new homes, high street improvements and transport links.
"Mayors and local leaders know what their communities need to grow, which is why we are giving them more money, more power and more capacity to get projects moving, build homes and make the right decisions for their areas," Healey said. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the move would end local leaders "going cap in hand to Westminster."
Lord Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, said greater investment powers could help unlock infrastructure projects including the West London Orbital route, extensions to the Bakerloo Underground line and Docklands Light Railway, and development of Stratford International station.
The Budget will also include support for small breweries, though details remain limited.
The Sunday Times reports that Healey is expected to announce billions of pounds in new defence spending, though specific funding details will come at next year's spending review. Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith called for Healey to resign if he fails to outline how the UK will spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2030. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting responded that the Conservatives failed to invest adequately in the military while in office and that the government remains "determined to give our armed forces the investment needed to keep us safe."
Treasury entrepreneurship adviser Alex Depledge announced her resignation effective Thursday, one day after the Budget, citing concern that start-ups were being treated as a "sideshow" and pushed to the "margins of economic policy."