The UK Budget will be delivered on March 11 as planned, despite the abrupt departure of Sajid Javid as chancellor last week.
Rishi Sunak, his replacement at the Treasury, posted at photo on Twitter on Tuesday of his preparations for the Budget, confirming it would go ahead without delay.
“Cracking on with preparations for my first Budget on March 11,” Mr Sunak said. “It will deliver on the promises we made to the British people — levelling up and unleashing the country’s potential.”
Sterling popped higher against its peers after Mr Sunak’s announcement, rising 0.2 per cent against the dollar to trade at $1.3034. It made similar gains against the euro to trade at €1.2045.
The positive tone in the currency was further bolstered by strong employment data earlier in the morning. Official figures showed that 180,000 jobs were added in the final quarter of 2019 — more than the 145,000 increase forecast by economists polled by Reuters news agency.
There had been speculation in Whitehall that the Budget would be delayed by a week or so to provide Mr Sunak enough time to change any plans of his predecessor. But the new chancellor has decided that three weeks is enough time to prepare for his first major fiscal event.
Government officials confirmed that Mr Sunak would not attend the G20 summit in Saudi Arabia this weekend and would instead focus on Budget preparations. He will meet Boris Johnson, prime minister, in London on Wednesday to discuss progress.
The announcement comes after Downing Street refused to confirm last week whether the date would be changed or whether the UK’s fiscal rules would remain in place.
Mr Sunak is now expected to come under pressure from Number 10 to relax Britain’s fiscal rules in order to increase spending.
But unless he raises taxes or makes cuts elsewhere, economists have warned he will have no room to raise day-to-day spending without breaking a pledge to balance the current budget by 2023.
The Budget, which sets the government’s economic strategy for the entire parliament, has taken on even more significance since Mr Javid’s resignation.
Mr Javid, who had insisted the UK should run a balanced budget on current, or day-to-day, spending by 2023, chose to quit the role in last week’s reshuffle rather than accept full Number 10 control over the Budget.
Mr Johnson had asked him to sack all his advisers and create a single team of aides linking Number 10 and the Treasury, restricting the chancellor’s independence.
