Asked earlier if there would be a cut to the welfare bill before the next election, the chancellor said: ‘There will be a reduction in the benefits bill’ The Resolution Foundation has now published its full 48-page report on the budget. Some of its main arguments were covered earlier. (See 8.36am .) Here are five charts from the report illustrating five of its main arguments. Debt interest spending is now forecast to reach £147bn in 2029-30, £13bn more than in March. This leaves debt interest spending at 4.1 per cent of GDP in 2029-30 (and peaking marginally higher at 4.14 per cent in 2031-32, the highest on record since 1956-57) and above the total expected spend on universal credit, Housing Benefit and Child Benefit combined in that year. The 2020s are on course to have the lowest growth in incomes of any decade on record when measured using Real Household Disposable Income (RHDI). RHD
Treasury denies Healey plan to cut welfare bill before election, claiming his comments were misinterpreted – UK politics live
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