UK Government Spending Review, 11th June 2025
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves MP delivered the 2025 Spending Review to MPs in Parliament on 11th June. You can read the associated HM Treasury press release here.
Key announcements relevant to our sector include:
Scottish funding - The Scottish Government will receive an average of £50.9 billion per year, including an additional £2.9 billion annually through the Barnett formula. This includes:
£2.4 billion per year for day-to-day spending over the next three years
Over £510 million in capital investment across the next four years
£452 million over four years for City and Growth Deals in Scotland
£100 million joint investment with the Scottish Government for the Falkirk and Grangemouth Growth deal
Commitment to deliver four Investment Zones and Green Freeports in Scotland. This includes £160 million each over 10 years for Investment Zones in the North East of Scotland and in Glasgow City Region; and up to £25 million each for the Inverness and Cromarty Firth, and Forth Green Freeports
£500 million has been allocated to HMRC’s digital transformation, aiming to move 90% of customer interactions online by 2029-30
£1.7 billion will be invested over four years to expand HMRC’s compliance and debt management capacity, aiming to raise £7.5 billion in additional tax revenue by 2029-30
Local authorities receive additional income through the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for packaging
European Union trade deal set to reduce paperwork and checks on agrifood and plants moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland which the UK Government has stated will improve access to EU markets for Scotland
In addition to this a commitment has been made to invest at least £80 million per year in tobacco cessation programmes and enforcement, supporting the implementation of the proposed Tobacco & Vapes Bill (we will check to see if this funding is solely for England).
Also, the government has announced its intentions to address legacy IT infrastructure across departments to reduce the risk of system failures and cyber-attacks.