Ministers hope to exploit a change in the fiscal rules to spend billions more a year on housing, infrastructure and British start-ups
Oliver Wright, Policy Editor
Ministers are drawing up plans to boost economic growth by exploiting the fiscal rules to increase government borrowing and spend the money on infrastructure, housing and support for businesses.
Under proposals being worked on before the budget the Treasury intends to provide billions of pounds in new finance.
Officials hope the extra cash, which could also be channelled to regional mayors, will get the economy moving and give the chancellor, John Healey, some good news to announce in the budget.
The move, which could raise more than £9 billion a year for spending by 2031, is made possible by a change to the fiscal rules implemented by Rachel Reeves when she was chancellor.
This allows the government to count spending on infrastructure or equity in companies as “assets” to be offset against the cost of borrowing, helping ministers to avoid breaching the fiscal rules. Ministers hope to exploit the change to fulfil Andy Burnham’s pledge of “growth in every postcode”.
Source ; thetimes.com