Autumn Budget 2025: What It Means for the North East

Local TV

The UK Government has set out its latest autumn Budget, outlining spending plans, tax decisions and priorities for the year ahead. The announcement is expected to have implications for households, businesses and local services right across the country  including here in the North East.

Transcript

00:00The North East has given a mixed reaction to the government's latest autumn budget,

00:04with leaders welcoming some support for families,

00:07but warning that the region will need far more investment in the months ahead.

00:11One of the biggest announcements was the end of the two-child benefit cap,

00:15a move expected to lift thousands of children in the North East out of hardship.

00:20Many local MPs have called it a major step towards tackling child poverty

00:23after years of campaigning from councils, charities and community groups.

00:27There was also news for household budgets.

00:30The Chancellor confirmed a cut of £150 from annual energy bills,

00:34offering some relief as winter approaches.

00:37National insurance and income tax thresholds, however,

00:40will remain frozen for three more years beyond 2028,

00:44meaning more workers across the North East could drift into higher tax brackets as wages rise.

00:49The region's economy reaction has been more cautious.

00:52The North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said that while she welcomes new powers to introduce a tourist tax,

00:57a levy she says could fund festivals, jobs and boost tourism,

01:00major projects were notably absent from the announcement.

01:04There was no firm commitment to the Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme,

01:07and the long-awaited reopening of the Leam sideline remains undecided.

01:12Calls for upgrades to the A19 at Moir Farm,

01:14more trains for the Northumberland line,

01:16and additional backing for Sunderland's Crown Works film studios were also not addressed.

01:21Instead, the region will receive £96 million through a local growth fund.

01:26We've hoped this will support small businesses, town centres and regeneration plans from Gateshead to the coast.

01:32Council's also welcomed a new surcharge on high-value properties,

01:36which could raise millions nationally through council tax,

01:39though many warn it won't fix long-term pressures on local authority budgets.

01:43To add to this, Jane Black, the Digital Futures Policy Manager of the Institution of Engineering and Technology in the North East,

01:50believes the government has missed the opportunity to provide support for small and medium-sized businesses,

01:55alongside the newly introduced Cyber Security and Resilience Bill.

01:59Certainly was a lot to welcome in the budget, particularly in terms of engineering technology.

02:03So there's investment for apprenticeships, which will really help tackle skill shortages.

02:10And for that, we know that large businesses often do better for completion rates of apprenticeships.

02:17And what we now need is that much-needed focus for smaller businesses

02:21and helping with the local training providers to make sure that those apprenticeships are as successful as possible.

02:28But we also saw some things missing from the budget yesterday.

02:31For example, a focus on cyber security.

02:34With the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill that's going through Parliament at the moment,

02:38that would have been an ideal opportunity to do so.

02:41What we know is that two-thirds of the public think that the government needs to prioritise this more

02:46and that 70% think businesses need to do more.

02:49But it is hard for smaller businesses to do that.

02:51So we were calling for tax breaks for smaller businesses to help them reskill and reinvest to bolster their cyber security defences.

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