The 2019 Spring Statement and Spending Review: an IFS and IfG briefing

Institute for Government

The Institute for Government (IfG) and Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) hosted a briefing on the issues for government in the upcoming Spring Statement and this year’s Spending Review. After nine years of austerity, the Spending Review could be among the most important non-Brexit decisions made during this parliament. We looked at the squeeze on public spending since 2010, the consequences of sticking with the 2018 Autumn Budget indicative spending plans, and assessed the options open to the Chancellor. Carl Emmerson, Deputy Director of the IFS, and Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the IfG, discussed: How the spending plan set out in the Autumn 2018 Budget affects departmental budgets How any deviation from the spending plan affects government’s fiscal targets What the £20 billion announced for the NHS means for other areas of spending How different departments are coping with spending cuts How fiscal policy might adjust in response to an economically bad Brexit What the Government needs to do in the Spring Statement and Spending Review to produce a set of spending plans that are consistent with its aspirations for public services. This event was chaired by Bronwen Maddox, Director, Institute for Government.