The Prime Minister opened Cabinet by thanking the Chancellor for
her speech this morning. He said the upcoming Budget would
be a very significant moment, adding that the cost of
borrowing was high and that events across the world, on
an almost a daily basis, affected it. He said it was
clear that previous governments had gone down the road
of austerity, which had made things worse, not better. The Prime
Minister said the government would not be going down that path,
nor the path of taking risks with more borrowing. He said taking
risks with more borrowing did not mean money going to
teachers, nurses or doctors, but to hedge funds. The
Prime Minister said a fair response to these challenges was
needed, which would be set out at the Budget.
The Chancellor thanked the Prime Minister and pointed to the
challenges affecting the upcoming Budget, including tariffs,
unstable borrowing
costs, inflation and long-term productivity.
She said she had to respond to the world as it is now, not as she
might wish it to be. The Chancellor said she had been clear she
would not repeat the mistakes of the past and emphasised the need
to show Britain can be trusted once again. That was already
happening as markets accept we are going to
stick by our fiscal rules. The Chancellor said this would mean
taking the right decisions at the Budget, but she was prepared to
take them, rather than follow the mistakes
of previous governments.
The Prime Minister then turned to the National Youth Strategy. He
said for far too long young people had been locked out of their
future at almost every level,
something exacerbated by the pandemic. He then invited
the Culture Secretary to update Cabinet.
The Culture Secretary told Cabinet there had not been a National
Youth Strategy for more than 20 years. She said it was striking
that young people were the most digitally connected yet most
isolated generation in history, making Britain an outlier
internationally. Many young people had retreated to their
bedrooms, creating a perfect storm of isolation which the Cabinet
had to tackle jointly. She said this can become the first
government to make a tangible difference, offering young people
more things to do and places to go, including through working
with sporting bodies.
The Prime Minister then turned to the Health Secretary for an
update on the NHS. The Health Secretary said since day one, the
government had worked to modernise and improve the NHS, and that
now we were in a position to say the NHS was on the
road to recovery. He said investment and modernisation was
working, thanks to the 10-Year Health Plan and delivery that was
already underway. That includes 5m more appointments in the
government's first year. He said the NHS was also delivering
savings, including with the abolition of NHS England, and while
there were challenges - not least with winter approaching - a lot
had been done and there was a lot more to do.
