True North's advisors, Dr Eilidh Whiteford and Andrew Liddle, share what they were getting up to at Westminster yesterday.
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Spending Review 2025: A view from the Gallery with Dr Eilidh Whiteford
I had the unexpected privilege of a ringside seat at Westminster for yesterday’s Comprehensive Spending Review statement.
In London on other business, I managed to fit in a return trip to the House of Commons to watch Chancellor Rachel Reeves set out her spending plans for the coming years. The faces on the benches may change, but the dynamics of the chamber stay much the same: I think I’d suppressed the memory of just how rowdy it gets, especially on a Wednesday for Prime Minister’s Questions and major Statements– something that TV coverage manages to edit out.
Many of the more meaty announcements the Chancellor made from the Despatch Box had already been widely trailed. The government made sure that news of its sharp U-turn on pensioners’ winter fuel payments landed earlier this week. This has been an albatross around the Government’s neck since Reeves announced the cuts in her first budget last year, alienating voters who had given them a chance and undermining confidence in their appetite to end austerity. If her volte-face comes with a hefty financial price tag, it is less than the political price Labour has paid for the climbdown. They are keen to draw a line and move on.
Instead, the Chancellor’s emphasis yesterday was on security, with big commitments on defence spending, including defence manufacturing, and investment in transport infrastructure another major beneficiary.
The other big-ticket item that had already been briefed to journalists was the £39 billion for investment in affordable housing, a strategic intervention to tackle chronic shortages in supply. This should help alleviate housing shortages in the longer term, but it’s questionable whether it will make enough of a tangible difference within what is left of the current electoral cycle for the government to reap much benefit.
The most significant announcement for Scotland was a commitment – at last – to the Acorn Carbon Capture and Storage project at Peterhead. Further details of the Government’s support are to be spelled out as Ed Miliband visits Aberdeenshire today, but the announcement throws a lifeline to a project which is of enormous strategic importance to the wider energy transition. I argued strongly for CCS at Peterhead during my own time in parliament, so I am glad I was there today to witness some progress. It can’t come soon enough. Last week, Professor Paul de Leeuw of Robert Gordon University warned of a dramatic increase in North Sea job losses – up to 400 every two weeks over the next five years – without action by both governments to accelerate the energy transition. Acorn is a cornerstone of that transition and needs support if Scotland is to decarbonise its industrial base and remain competitive.
The Chancellor’s spending increases mean some additional Barnett consequentials for the Scottish Government too, perhaps giving the Scottish Government some extra financial wriggle room ahead of next year’s Holyrood elections. After an unanticipated by-election victory last week, Scottish Labour tails are up and they now see a revival in their prospects for 2026; debate between them and the SNP was narky yesterday afternoon. Yet from my vantage point, I couldn’t help but notice that Nigel Farage, ensconced on the Opposition benches flanked by his colleagues, sat through the Chancellor’s Statement with a grin on his face like the Cheshire cat’s. Labour would do well to attend to Reform breathing down its neck. Yesterday afternoon, for once, looking down from the gallery, I was very glad to be above the fray.
View the Spending Review here.
Launch of the Sarcoma UK Unique Among Cancers report with Andrew Liddle
For almost a year, True North Advisors have been working with the charity Sarcoma UK on a major new report into treatment and services for this rare cancer.
Our work included researching, writing, and designing the Unique Among Cancers report, as well as organising last night’s launch in the House of Commons with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, and dozens of other MPs, advisors, and officials.
The report is the largest-ever qualitative study of sarcoma treatment across the UK, having received evidence from more than 400 healthcare professionals and people affected by sarcoma.
It makes 16 recommendations for improvements, which both the UK and Scottish governments have already agreed to review.
You can read the executive summary or download the full report here.