Expert commentary - Budget 2026

Dubbed by some within the media as the ‘Cost of Living Budget’, the measures announced include: the scrapping of standard charges from household gas bills, a £100 household energy payment to 20 million households in Council Tax bands A-D this winter, an increase in the threshold for small business rate relief for retail hospitality and leisure businesses to £18,000, an extra 3% on banks surcharge, a rise in minimum wage for younger workers, a roadmap to fiscal devolution in which local leaders will take all income generated from business rates by 2030 and £10bn of additional economic and military support for Ukraine. 

In response, experts from the University of Salford have offered the following commentary.

'THE NORTH IS A PHENOMENAL PROPOSITION FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES'

Professor Andy Miah, Chair of Science Communication and Future Media, has been researching the biomedical, cultural, political and media structures of the Olympic Movement since the Olympic Games Sydney 2000.  On the announcement of a £7m fund for a full feasibility study on the possibility of a bid for the Olympic games across the north of England, he said:

“The bid for an Olympic Games in the north of England comes at a time when the International Olympic Committee has opened routes into distributed Games proposals. It follows on from a positive legacy to the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, which was the first to test this principle, but also other events like the 2026 Men’s FIFA World Cup, which operated across three nations. 

“This proof of principle is both an appealing way to ensure that a Games bid widens the range of stakeholders who can find their way into collaborative bid writing but also makes it possible to reduce the risk and burden of any bid city. 

“The north of England is a phenomenal proposition for an Olympic Games destination with a remarkable heritage of athletic success, the UK capital of sports broadcasting in MediaCity - which tells the stories of the Games to the nations - and a pioneering collaboration across the regions which will reinforce the power of devolved power, the importance of the regions to tell their story globally.

“The region is at the heart of the heritage of some of the most compelling stories that are shaping the world, from the origins of artificial intelligence in Greater Manchester to the birth of a nation of workers which reshaped the world. The legacy of the 2002 Commonwealth Games and the breadth of ambitious, new sports events that are coming into the region - with Manchester recently making the Top 10 list of sporting cities worldwide - makes this a compelling vision for the International Olympic Committee to consider as a safe pair of hands with a remarkable heritage in making Olympic memories."

On whether the region has the required transport infrastructure to stage an event of the scale of the Olympic games, Professor Miah added:

“Transport infrastructure could be seen as a weakness with a northern bid, but I don’t see it as a huge issue for a couple of reasons. 

“Firstly, bid processes are often a mechanism to kickstart dramatic transformations to infrastructural limitations and transport is one of those key areas where the bid can have that impact.  Any eventual Games will be in the 2040s, so there is also plenty of time to get these things figured out. 

“The crucial thing the bid needs to focus on is the narrative of the north's heritage in supporting Olympians and delivering world class events, and the 2002 Commonwealth Games investment remains a key pillar of that story. The IOC know that wider areas bidding will have these issues and are prepared to be more flexible with their requirements than in the past. Milan Cortina, host of the 2026 Winter Olympics, was very split across sites and it took a long time to travel between them but was widely seen as a success. 

“The north of England won't have anything like those geographical challenges and feels like a very compelling vision for a Games that is more inclusive and more widely supported."

‘A BUDGET FOR THE WORKING PEOPLE’

Dave Beck, a Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Salford, said it was ‘a Budget for the working people’ and that his fiscal decisions were framed against the backdrop of the conflict in the middle east.

He said: “A budget for the working people, providing breathing space for those struggling with the cost of living, is how Healey described it in his opening statement. Setting out his 10-year plan, in-line with Labour(ish) thinking, Healey reflected most of his statements on the backdrop with the war in the middle east, noting that the conflicts have had a detrimental impact on the costs of living for normal people in the UK. All the while keeping plans in place noted in the Labour manifesto of not raising taxes on working people.

“Many of the small treats mentioned by Healey today did aim to appease the last 40 years of neoliberal privatisation and deregulation (whilst remaining firmly in a centrist middle-lane, so to speak). There was nothing radical, as any (old) Labour supporter would have expected. But it does provide some appeasement. 

“Healey’s position in today’s budget is that the banks would now repay some of this and come to the help of the people. Banks will now be forced to pay an extra 3% surcharge to the government. In addition and linked to the war-driven rising cost of fuel, the opening of the Jackdaw Oil Field aims to deliver a £2.9bn boost to the UK economy and go some way to offset this rising international costs. Many environmentalists, me included, have serious doubts of this as a growth area and is something that needs serious reconsideration, and favour less, not more oil exploration when renewables are far more appealing.

‘BREATHING SPACE NOW, LOCAL RESILIENCE NEXT’

Professor Vahid Vahindinasab, Professor and Chair in Sustainability, said that the Budget’s ‘short-term focus’ was expected given the Government’s commitment to tackling the cost of living and rising energy bills.

He said: “I believe there is much to welcome in this budget. The government remains ‘unshakeably committed’ to net zero by 2050, and the next renewables auction will rightly ‘only buy cheap clean power that is ready to connect to the grid’.

“No new policy costs will go on bills until a cost control framework is in place. Households in council tax bands A to D in England get £100, and gas standing charges will be abolished. Manufacturers get up to 25% off electricity, and 70,000 more retail, hospitality and leisure firms will pay no business rates. Warm Homes loans for heat pumps, and £100 million over two years for cheaper local public chargers for electric vehicles will help more families go electric. 

“However, the long-term answers are still to come, through next year’s detail on electricity standing charges, the 2027 Spending Review and the 10 Year Plan. I hope that plan makes room for local energy. As mayors receive more local tax, they should also get the funding and responsibility to plan their area’s energy. Many homes and small businesses have solar panels, batteries and electric cars, some able to send power back through vehicle-to-grid. At present, connecting them, sharing power locally and getting paid for it, remain too slow and complicated. Clearing those barriers is how breathing space today becomes local resilience tomorrow, and that is our hope for the future.”