Featherstone Hill

Chancellor’s speech takes optimistic tone on economy

Contact an expert

The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, gave an important speech at the Labour Party conference last week, in which she appeared to shift tone to speak more positively about the economy.


Recently she spoke about the upcoming Budget being a “painful” one. As a result, there has been speculation on where spending will be cut and tax raised, which may have affected consumer confidence.


However, the Chancellor’s speech at the party conference concentrated on the positive results she expects to bring to the economy. She plans to grow public spending in real terms as she believes that investment by the government will help the economy to grow. There may be changes upcoming to the rules on government borrowing so that more investment is allowed.


Whether this means that the Budget will not be as painful as we might have been expecting is hard to know. As always, we will keep you posted on the Budget developments.


See: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y50z5l1r2o

July 20, 2026
Expansion of SME growth scheme

The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has announced an expansion of the British Business Bank’s (BBB) Growth Guarantee Scheme (GGS). This provides a 70% government guarantee on commercial loans to SMEs of up to £2 million, cutting credit risk.

Read article
July 16, 2026
New proposals to tackle Electronic Sales Suppression

The government is consulting on potential measures that target Electronic Sales Suppression (ESS). Proposals include the introduction of new software standards for Point of Sale systems. Electronic Sales Suppression (ESS) involves businesses using software or devices to manipulate Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) systems to hide transactions and evade tax.

Read article
Update cookies preferences