Wednesday's UK Budget to Add £1bn for Affordable Housing

The Budget on Wednesday will include more than £1bn for social and affordable housing in England, lifting funding for the government's 10-year homes programme past £40bn. Chancellor John Healey will announce the plans.

Mayors and regional leaders are also expected to get more powers and money. Councils will be helped to borrow from the government to invest in house-building at preferential interest rates. Healey said English cities and regions would get the "right to decide their own future", and Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the plans were about shifting power to those "who know their communities best".

Seed money for mayors

The Treasury says an initial £285m in transitional seed funding will go to mayors and local leaders next year, reducing reliance on "fragmented bidding pots" in Whitehall. Areas that are not yet strategic authorities will be able to access a share. The government will also confirm that it will work with mayors on a new £1.5bn borrowing facility from 2028, which could pay for new homes, revived high streets or transport links.

Claire Ward, chairwoman of the UK Mayors Network, said the powers and resources would help turn "ambitious plans into reality". London mayor Sadiq Khan said a greater ability to invest could help unlock projects including the West London Orbital route, an extension of the Bakerloo line and the development of Stratford International station.

The chancellor will also announce more support for small breweries, with the Treasury saying he wants "to turn the tide for our pint producers". The news follows plans by Carlsberg Britvic to close the Marston's Brewery site in Burton-upon-Trent, which puts 310 jobs at risk.

Start-ups and defence

Alex Depledge, a Treasury entrepreneurship adviser who leaves on Thursday, told the Sunday Times that start-ups are treated as a "sideshow" and should not be pushed to the "margins of economic policy".

Defence is also a talking point. Healey resigned as defence secretary in June over the defence investment plan, which he said fell "well short" of what was needed, and had called for spending to reach 3% of GDP by 2030. Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith has urged him to set out how that will be funded and called for his resignation if he does not. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting replied that the Conservatives failed to invest in the military while in office.

Source: BBC News