The Chancellor will deliver the Budget on 28 October 2026 and the government will later introduce a Finance Bill to implement the tax measures announced.

This Insight looks at what the Budget is, and an overview of what happens during and following the event.

Overview of the Budget

The Budget is a statement made by the Chancellor to MPs in the House of Commons, presenting the government’s plans for the economy, including changes to taxation and spending.

The economic and fiscal outlook is published by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on the same day as the Budget. This is an independent analysis of the UK’s economic and fiscal situation, which the Chancellor addresses in their speech. The Treasury also publishes a report alongside the Budget, with further detail on the rationale and the costing of measures announced.

After the Budget statement, MPs may be asked to approve immediate changes to some taxes. There is then a debate in the Commons, normally lasting four days. After this, MPs are asked to agree to ‘ways and means’ resolutions to provisionally approve tax proposals. Finally, a Finance Bill to give permanent legal power to the tax proposals in the Budget’s proposals is introduced.

When does the Budget normally happen?

As of 2017, Treasury policy is that the Budget should be the only fiscal event of the year and it should take place in the Autumn. The OBR is required to publish two outlooks per financial year, and the Chancellor has to respond to both. Therefore, the Chancellor would present the government’s response to the second outlook in a ‘spring statement’.

Both the Budget and the response to the spring outlook are formal occasions for the government to set out its economic and fiscal policy to the Commons, although most tax and spending decisions should be included in the Budget.

Recent exceptions to the Budget timetable

Following the first Autumn Budget in November 2017, there have been exceptions to the usual timetable. For example, the 2019 general election postponed the Budget to spring 2020. In 2020, the need to respond to rapid changes during the covid-19 pandemic led to three statements on the economy, all of which included major tax and spending decisions.

On July 8 2020, the then Chancellor Rishi Sunak set out the government’s ‘Plan for Jobs’; on 24 September, he outlined measures the government would implement during the winter months; and on 22 October, he announced extensions of the main support schemes he had previously launched.

On the other hand, the then Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement in November 2022 included all the characteristics of a traditional Budget (including its timing, held in the autumn), even though it was called something different.

In July 2024, the Labour government said it was “committed to one major fiscal event a year” to support economic stability.

The then Chancellor Rachel Reeves presented the Labour government’s first and second Budget in October 2024 and November 2025. She then responded to two of the OBR’s spring economic and fiscal outlooks in two Spring Statements, in March 2025 and in March 2026.

This will be the first Budget since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister, and John Healey Chancellor. It will be the Labour government’s third Budget since the general election.

The Budget speech

On Budget day, the Chancellor is photographed outside of No 11 Downing Street with the traditional red box containing the Budget speech. The speech normally takes place on a Wednesday at 12.30pm, following Prime Minister’s Questions. The speech will contain any proposals for new taxation, continuing existing taxes, or for abolishing taxes, as well as some other measures not related to taxation.

When are Budget changes implemented?

After the Budget speech, some changes to, or continuations of, existing taxes may be introduced on the same day. A common example of this is changes to excise duties, such as on tobacco. Immediate changes to taxation happen if MPs approve motions under the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1968.

Any provision that will be included in the Finance Bill has to be covered by a ‘ways and means resolution’. These resolutions need to be approved by Parliament within 10 sitting days of the Budget. Each tax measure will have its own ways and means resolution. Approval of the resolutions allows certain measures to take effect even if the Finance Bill has not yet received Royal Assent.

An example of this is income tax. The government’s power to collect income tax must be renewed each year in the Finance Bill. The approval of a ways and means resolution means the Treasury can still legally collect income tax when the new tax year starts, even if the Finance Bill has not become law yet.

Other tax changes may not be implemented until much later as set out in the Finance Bill.

Debating the Budget statement and the Finance Bill

The debate in the House of Commons on the Budget usually takes place over four days, starting from the response from the Leader of the Opposition after the Chancellor’s speech. These debates are wide-ranging and generally come under a broad topic such as ‘trade’. At the end of the Budget debate, MPs are asked to approve each of the ways and means resolutions.

All tax measures announced in the Budget are given permanent legal effect in the Finance Bill. The bill is officially introduced to Parliament, for its ‘first reading’, after the ways and means resolutions are approved.

Following scrutiny in the House of Commons, the Finance Bill goes to the House of Lords.

The role of the House of Lords

The Commons is the only chamber authorised to initiate tax legislation. The House of Lords cannot amend the Finance Bill and does not have a detailed debate on the contents of the bill (known as ‘clause by clause’).

The only substantive debate in the Lords takes place at second reading.

Further reading

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