Overview

• Chief Secretary James Murray has written to Cabinet ministers stating that the Treasury reserve will be available only on an exceptional basis.
• Departments must demonstrate they have exhausted savings and will be required to repay any reserve advances over future years.
• Downing Street described the approach as tough but prudent and confirmed the reserve will not be used to fund pay awards.
• The policy follows earlier above‑inflation offers to public sector workers even as first‑year doctors in England voted for new strikes this week.
• Borrowing revisions gave roughly £2 billion of extra headroom, yet reporting points to a large fiscal gap and limits on major tax rises.