Chancellor John Healey says Budget cost of living help will be temporary and targeted
Chancellor John Healey says cost of living help in the coming Budget will be temporary and targeted at the hardest-hit households and businesses.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
The Chancellor, John Healey, has said cost of living support in the Budget later this month will be temporary and targeted at the households and businesses facing the greatest pressure.
Speaking during a visit to Thailand for the International Monetary Fund's annual meeting in Bangkok, Healey said help would be limited. He said it can have its greatest impact when it is well targeted, adding that it needs to be targeted and should be temporary. The IMF has called on countries to work together to respond to global economic pressures.
With less than two weeks until the Budget, Healey gave further clues about what to expect. He described the help as 'a bit of breathing space' from the cost of living, but repeated that it would be targeted and temporary.
The economic backdrop is difficult. The British economy has shown resilience so far this year, but war is driving up prices and the cost of borrowing, affecting living standards and limiting the help the Chancellor can offer. Household energy bills could rise by as much as 20% in January. Asked whether there would be extra support for energy bills, Healey said energy costs were punishing and that the government would do what it can in the Budget for both businesses and households.
During the same visit, Healey faced questions about Russia and Ukraine. Russia remains a member of the IMF despite its invasion of Ukraine, and its delegation kept a low profile in Bangkok. The Chancellor was careful not to criticise President Trump's decision to buy Russian diesel or alleged restrictions on Ukraine's access to Starlink. Europe holds more than 200 billion euros of frozen Russian assets. Asked whether he would confiscate the assets, as his predecessor Rachel Reeves wanted to do, Healey said all options for stepping up support for Ukraine or pressure on Russia are being looked at. He said now was not the time to dial down sanctions and that it was time to step up pressure on Putin.
Healey is due to set out the Budget in less than two weeks. He will also have to explain how he intends to deal with fuel and food costs that are rising almost everywhere.
On screen
Stills are sampled automatically at 60-second intervals. Where shown, the still is the nearest available frame from the relevant broadcast segment and is included to show what was on screen during that part of the broadcast. A still may not correspond to the exact second of a quoted phrase.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| Household energy bills could rise by as much as 20% in January. | Reported by ITV |
| John Healey was in Thailand attending the International Monetary Fund's annual meeting in Bangkok. | |
| The Chancellor said cost-of-living support in the Budget later this month would be temporary and targeted at the hardest-hit households and businesses, and hinted that some help was coming. | |
| The IMF called for countries to work together in response to global economic pressures. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
ITV Evening News led its Budget coverage on the Chancellor's signal that cost of living help will be temporary and targeted, framing it around the IMF meeting in Bangkok and international coordination. Its treatment was brief and straight news, with no extended political context or energy bill figures.
- “The Chancellor has told ITV News there will be cost of living help in his budget later this month but it will only be temporary and targeted at the households and businesses hit the hardest.”
- “it needs to be targeted and it should be temporary.”
- “John Healey was in Thailand attending the International Monetary Fund's annual meeting in Bangkok.”
ITV News at Ten gave the story a fuller package from Bangkok, linking the Budget to global economic turbulence, energy bill rises and the war in Ukraine. It pressed the Chancellor on what help households would get and on sanctions and frozen Russian assets. The tone was analytical and interview-led.
- “with less than two weeks now to the budget, the Chancellor John Healey has been giving some clues about what we might expect.”
- “we will do what we can in the budget, both for business and for households, to give people a bit of breathing space.”
- “now is not the time to dial down sanctions. It is time to step up pressure on Putin.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.