The Deputy Prime Minister had been one of the last holdouts in an intense Cabinet battle over spending settlements, as priority was given to the NHS, schools and defence, meaning other departments faced real-terms cuts..
It leaves Home Secretary Yvette Cooper as the last remaining Cabinet minister to still be pushing for more as she attempts to secure extra money for the police after senior officers warned in recent days that cuts could threaten public safety.
But Home Office and Treasury sources were tight lipped on Sunday, in an indication that negotiations over police funding are also going to the wire.
Yvette Cooper is attempting to secure extra money for the police (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)Reports suggested talks Reeves and her Treasury colleagues held with Rayner and Cooper had become heated as the two powerful Cabinet ministers demanded more money to meet the Government’s priorities.
But Labour’s deputy leader is understood to have taken a robust approach to the talks as she battles to ensure she can fulfil the party’s pledges.
The Affordable Homes programme is meanwhile classed as capital spending, which can to an extent be funded by borrowing, while the local government funding settlement is current spending that must be balanced with taxes, which further complicated matters.
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Government sources insisted that ministers will be able to meet key “milestone” targets of building 1.5m homes and recruiting 13,000 additional neighbourhood police officers after the review allocates departmental budgets for the next three years.
Economists have said the expected 2.8 per cent annual increase in its day-to-day budget, which amounts to a rise of about £30bn by 2028, or £17bn in real terms, will see other departments squeezed.
The Government meanwhile over the weekend announced a boost for research and development worth £22.5bn a year by 2029/30 to help sectors such as tech, life sciences, advanced manufacturing and defence.
Economists have said the expected 2.8 per cent annual increase in its day-to-day budget, which amounts to a rise of about £30 billion by 2028, or £17bn in real terms, will see other departments squeezed.
Day-to-day funding for schools is expected to increase by an extra £4.5bn by 2028-9 compared with the 2025-6 core budget, which was published in the spring statement.
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