Autumn Budget 2026
UK Budget set for 28 October 2026, published with the OBR's Economic and fiscal outlook.
The Autumn Budget on 28 October 2026 starts from April-to-August borrowing that ran £8.1bn over the OBR's profile, at £77.3bn, after Chancellor John Healey ruled out rises in VAT, income tax and corporation tax.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026
Timeline for Autumn Budget 2026
Mentioned in: 30-year gilt passes 6%, last seen 1998
Is Britain Actually Broke?Mentioned in: Healey rules out three big tax rises
Is Britain Actually Broke?Mentioned in: Hillier's MPs seek 10-year OBR forecast
Is Britain Actually Broke?Mentioned in: ONS puts borrowing £8.1bn over OBR path
Is Britain Actually Broke?Background
The Autumn Budget 2026 is scheduled for Wednesday 28 October 2026, and is John Healey's first as Chancellor. The Office for Budget Responsibility said on 31 July that the Chancellor had commissioned its next forecast for that day, and that it will publish an updated Economic and fiscal outlook alongside the Budget.
Healey ruled out rises in VAT, income tax and corporation tax in a speech on 7 September, and told Labour's conference on 28 September that the government would meet its fiscal rules. Office for National Statistics figures published on 22 September put borrowing for the five months to August at £77.3bn, £8.1bn above the OBR's profile.
The Budget sets out tax and spending decisions against the OBR's new forecast, which measures the government's position against its fiscal rules. On 23 September the Commons Treasury Committee asked ministers to weigh a ten-year OBR forecast beside the current five-year horizon.
The baseline starts from a bigger gap
The Budget's starting point worsened on 22 September, when the Office for National Statistics put borrowing for April to August at £77.3bn against an OBR profile of £69.2bn. Benefits ran £2.4bn and debt interest £2.0bn above forecast, and revisions cut earlier tax receipts by £1.4bn.
Chancellor John Healey, appointed on 20 July, ruled out rises in VAT, income tax and corporation tax on 7 September. At Labour's conference in Liverpool on 28 September he said the government would meet its fiscal rules. In July the Resolution Foundation had put the headroom against those rules at about £10bn.
Borrowing costs climb before the Budget
Long-term government borrowing costs rose through the weeks before the Budget. On 7 October the 30-year gilt yield touched 6.02% during trading, a level it first crossed on 1 October and had not reached since 1998. The 10-year yield closed at 5.38% on 6 October.
Lenders kept buying. Every gilt auction in September sold, and each drew bids worth more than three times the amount on offer. About two-thirds of the 10-year yield's third-quarter climb came from the expected PATH of Bank Rate, on the National Institute of Economic and Social Research's estimate of 1 October; a larger term premium explained the rest.