Budget: Portsmouth Royal Navy base investment "building industry" for the future as OBR report leaked early
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves cited investment in Portsmouth as evidence of the government building for the future, amid a chaotic budget which was leaked early.
The Labour MP for Leeds West and Pudsey championed plans to support HMNB Portsmouth and boost Royal Navy infrastructure.
“We’re proud of our industrial heritage, and we’re determined to build the industry of the future, so we buy, make, and sell more in Britain,” she told the House of Commons. “As we increase defence spending, we are investing more in Portsmouth, Barrow and Plymouth.”
She added: “We have changed government procurement so we can buy British when it’s crucial to our national security. For steel, for shipbuilding, and today for AI, driving innovation and building that great industry here in Britain.”
The plans for investment in HMNB Portsmouth was originally announced in March this year, alongside an additional £2.2bn increase in defence spending. Confirmed as Project Bentham, major upgrades include creating additional jetties and berths, infrastructure improvements to combat rising sea levels, regenerating aging buildings on site, and building carbon-efficient accommodation alongside other working and welfare facilities.
Then minister for defence procurement Maria Eagle previously said this was to create a “resilient, efficient, and sustainable” base. Former Commanding Officer of HMS Prince of Wales, Captain Will Blackett, and current HMNB Portsmouth Captain Lee McLocklan, both previously praised the policy.
Ms Reeves added: “In our age of insecurity, Britain will continue to stand with our allies, working to secure a sustainable ceasefire for Ukraine, and maintaining our commitment to Nato. The UK will be spending 2.6 per cent by April 2027.”
It was a chaotic budget for the Chancellor after the OBR Document, which outlined economic measures in detail, was released early on its website. The OBR apologised, blaming a “technical error”, and an investigation has been launched.
Tax rises amounting to £26bn were announced by Ms Reeves to battle a downgrade in forecast economic growth. More than 1.7m people will face paying more income tax as she froze thresholds, meaning people will be dragged into paying the tax for the first time or shifted into higher bands as earnings increase.
The measures contribute to a tax burden that will rise to an “all-time high” in 2030/31. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast gross domestic product would grow by 1.5 per cent this year, an increase from its earlier one per cent forecast. But it downgraded growth in 2026 from 1.9 per cent to 1.4 per cent, in 2027 from 1.8 per cent to 1.5 per cent, in 2028 from 1.7 per cent to 1.5 per cent and in 2029 from 1.8 per cent to 1.5 per cent.
Ms Reeves acknowledged the freeze in tax thresholds would hit “working people” – the group Labour had promised to protect – but she was “asking everyone to make a contribution”. “I can keep that contribution as low as possible because I will make further reforms to our tax system today to make it fairer and to ensure the wealthiest contribute the most,” she said.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the budget was a “total humiliation” for Ms Reeves and “if she had any decency she would resign”. “Last year she put up taxes by £40 billion, the biggest tax rate in British history,” she added.
“She promised that she wouldn’t be back for more. She swore it was a one-off. She told everyone that from now on it would be stability, and she would pay for everything with growth. Today she has broken every single one of those promises. If she had any decency, she would resign. At the last budget she said she was proud to be the country’s first-ever female Chancellor, after this Budget, she will go down as the country’s worst-ever Chancellor.”