Chancellor strikes more cautious tone on AIpublished at 11:04 BST

11:04 BST

Faisal Islam
Economics editor

Intriguing words from the chancellor on AI. We have heard comparatively little from the PM on an issue which has dominated the speeches of most world leaders.

While the chancellor said AI will transform the economy, every firm, community, hospital and school, he also acknowledged it will replace some jobs, and take up space and resources, a reference to data centres.

He said the government would “grasp the opportunities” but do so in a way that “guards” against risks to business and national security. He was especially focused on the idea that AI, unlike previous waves on new technology “self improves”- ie the models create better versions of themselves.

It sounded a little less cheerleading of AI, a little more focused on risks, than we heard from the Starmer administration.

Healey will not please MPs looking for substantial shift in policypublished at 10:58 BST

10:58 BST

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

Image source, PA Media

It was interesting to hear John Healey go out of his way early in this speech to praise Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.

He hailed his predecessor as chancellor for recovering Britain’s fiscal discipline.

That was a clear and deliberate signal - especially to financial markets - that he wants to continue in that vein and is not going to be a profligate chancellor.

Yet there is an interesting political tension here. Healey is the chancellor, and not Reeves, because Starmer was ousted by Burnham.

Some of the Labour MPs who pushed for a change of leader did so because they wanted broadly the same governing approach, sold better. But others wanted a substantial shift in policy direction.

Those in the latter category will not find that much in this speech to encourage them.

Healey’s allies insist that while he does indeed want to build upon Reeves’s approach, his focus on boosting growth around the country as his first priority is a significant difference of emphasis.

In the final round of questions, Healey is once again asked if taxes will be raised and if Labour would scrap the pension triple lock to fund support for young people amid high youth unemployment.

The chancellor says Labour made "very strong, very clear, very specific" commitments on tax in its 2024 manifesto, adding that "this is what we are keeping".

"On tax specifics, I'm the chancellor less than two months out from the Budget, I'm not going to speculate on questions of tax," he says.

Answering a separate question before finishing, he explains how he will achieve his direction for growth given the challenging fiscal backdrop.

He says: "My defining mission as chancellor is growth, good growth in every postcode. And I've set out today the way this government will set about it: more devolution, more public leadership and control, more investment, more innovation, more jobs."

• The speech has now concluded. We'll bring you a round up of the top lines from Healey and analysis from our correspondents in the next few posts

Healey is then asked whether he'll consider corporation tax being devolved - and what promise he can make to voters about the "meaningful change" this government can deliver.

He says he won't respond to tax speculation ahead of the Budget on 28 October.

In terms of what's different now, he says this government is focused on "doubling down" on growth in more places, calling it the "first economic priority of this government".

He says it's about getting beyond that "long-term reliance" of "good growth in too few places". With more investment, innovation and jobs, the UK can start to lift the "level of growth" and the "level of hope", he says.

"That is the way we can start to tell a fresh story about Britain," he adds.

Image source, UK Pool

Moving on to questions, the chancellor is asked about the surge in cost of government borrowing and whether he can truly say that the economy is turning a corner, and is asked to rule out tax rises.

He says there is no doubt that global conflicts, trade tensions and an increasingly dangerous and uncertain world are weighing on the UK - making the task in government harder.

But he says he is setting out plans for growth and wants to be the chancellor that "gets things done", driving growth from more places in the UK.

He says Britain has great potential and strengths in how it can deal with the challenges it faces and reaffirms his commitment along with the PM to meet the fiscal rules and drive growth.

Healey concludes his speech saying that if his plan succeeds, young people will start businesses that will "storm to global scale", self employed people will have profits to "put back into their businesses" and Britain's economy will be "on the up".

"Of course, we will not deliver all this tomorrow, but we are delivering the start of it today," the chancellor says.

This plan, Healey says, will "guide the government" throughout the rest of the Parliament and through the prime minister's 10-year-plan.

Healey says the UK is "underusing the huge potential of Britain's workers", noting that there are nearly one million Neets in the country - that is people aged 16-24 who are not in employment, education or training.

Too many others are in jobs "that don't pay enough" or are "without the skills and opportunities to be able to get on", he adds.

This autumn, former minister Alan Milburn will set out his full recommendations to the government on "how to address this scar of youth unemployment", Healey says, calling it a "moral duty".

He says it is not right that so many young people in their 20s are "stuck on benefits" or "not looking for work".

He also calls it a "fiscal duty", saying a person who comes off benefits and gets into work "saves the taxpayer money" - which becomes a "win-win" when they also start paying tax themselves.

Image source, UK Pool

The UK is a world leader in several areas including AI and advanced manufacturing, the chancellor continues.

But too often ideas born in Britain have to go elsewhere to find the capital needed to grow, taking jobs and intellectual property away from the UK as well, Healey adds.

He says he's setting the ambition to double number of unicorn firms in the UK, and the government will go further over the coming months working with departments to earmark funds to back British innovation.

Healey also acknowledges AI is "one of greatest innovations in a generation" and understands concerns surrounding it. But he says that while we need to face risks to both national and business security, the opportunity of AI needs to be grasped.

"As chancellor I will not let this opportunity of AI pass Britain by, but nor will I allow the technology to proliferate with no oversight."

Healey says he's also looking at national policy to create the right conditions for the private sector to flourish.

He says the UK has had one of lowest rates of investment in the G7 "for the last decade and a half" but that "real progress" has been made in last two years. "But we need to do more," he says.

He says he is making changes to the Treasury Green Book - the government's document that guides decisions on whether projects are value for money - changing the discount rate to help projects with long term potential.

Alongside this, he says he is introducing economic potential analysis, putting that into business case decisions that the government makes.

Image source, UK Pool

Healey goes on to announce a £150m fund from the British business bank for the most innovative scale ups in the north.

He also announces the Northern500 - bringing the north's most ambitious mid-sized businesses into one community, led by the mayors, and supported by the private sector and central government.

"Across all the nations in the UK, we will support local leaders to deliver local growth."

Healey says the government has already begun this work, making Aberdeen the home of GB Energy, investing in Welsh railways and investments in Northern Ireland businesses.

He further announces that that South Yorkshire, Liverpool, North East England, Cardiff will all become the latest strategic partners of national wealth fund.

Healey says he wants to see British people working in the jobs created by the government as it seeks to encourage growth.

He says this will involve "No 10 North and the Treasury acting together" through devolution and greater public control.

Healey says Burnham set out a "clear diagnosis of what has gone wrong with the UK in the past" in his Commons speech last week, including the centralisation of power, privatisation and increase in regulation "without the predictability or pace that underpins a thriving market economy".

Healey says these reason led to the UK being "deindustrialised", including in areas critical to national security - leading to communities losing out and high streets "blighted by loss".

A "fundamental shift" is needed, Healey says - including giving local leaders the power "to unlock the potential of their region to do things in the best way that Whitehall can't".

He says he will set out a roadmap to fiscal devolution which he described as a "permanent transfer of power and resources" from Whitehall to the regions.

"London of course is our powerhouse," he says, but if city regions can emulate the growth of those in France or Germany he says "our economy would be transformed".

Healey says that while Britain's growth trajectory has been weak, "this now must change" - calling it "central" to his purpose as chancellor.

He says his mission is to "make Great Britain growth Britain" again.

The chancellor says he recognises the costs businesses are facing, from energy bills to planning constraints and higher labour costs since Covid.

Growth is the only way to tackle costs for businesses and the cost of living, he argues.

He adds that he wants to see UK as a country of wealth creation, and wants government policies to help create confidence in British businesses.

Healey says when he spoke to his colleagues at the G20 he told them a "fresh" and "optimistic" story of Britain - a country "turning a corner".

He says UK businesses and communities are ready to seize the opportunity of new technologies and ideas. Since the election in 2024, interest rates have been cut six times, Healey adds, and productivity is finally taking off after "decades of lagging behind" its peers.

From day one as chancellor, he says fiscal discipline was his "first priority" and he and both the PM are committed to meeting the fiscal rules at the Budget, controlling borrowing, and reducing long term pressures on public finances.

He says if debt interest were a government department it would be the second biggest in Whitehall after health, bigger than defence, home office and justice put together.

"That's why staying true to our values means being honest about the need to control government spending."

Faisal Islam
Economics editor

Here at the speech in Coventry, the chancellor is surrounded by industrial robots and with manufacturing apprentices directly in front of him.

He started by directly acknowledging the tricky backdrop.

“These shocks may be worldwide, but they are felt keenly here in the UK. From the cost of the weekly shop to the cost of Government debt, our borrowing costs are too high”.

He blamed that on political chaos seen in recent years. He said he had a responsibility to “reestablish belief in Britain and the UK's fiscal sustainability”.

Image source, UK Pool

Healey says financial shocks such at trade tension and rising inflation "may be worldwide, but they are felt keenly here in the UK".

He says borrowing costs are at "historic highs" and that the reasons for it are "high borrowing and low growth" allowing national debt to rise to almost 100% of GDP.

"[David] Cameron's austerity gutted our public services while [Boris] Johnson's hard Brexit hammered goods exports," he says.

He adds that unfunded spending after Covid "meant inflation hit 11%", which increased the cost of living and the cost of business.

The chancellor adds that the cost of debt for G7 nations were historically about "average" until the Liz Truss Budget "crashed the economy".

"Since 2022 we have been paying that Truss penalty as we battle to re-establish belief in Britain," he adds.

Chancellor John Healey starts off saying he is proud to back the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) and is pleased to be here to deliver his first speech.

He says MTC is part of advanced manufacturing and a fitting place to speak about "this government's determination" for growth.

"We're world leaders in life sciences, defence technology, creative industries, financial services," he says. He calls the UK's science and research base "world beating" and says the UK stock market is "hitting all time highs".

He adds that his new job has taken him in the past week to the G20 meeting in North Carolina. He says he was "proud" to have behind him the work begun by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.

"I will build on both as chancellor," he says.

Image source, UK Pool

John Healey is now delivering his first major speech since taking the role of chancellor in July.

Tap watch live to follow along at the top of the page - we'll also bring you the key lines here.

Faisal Islam
Economics editor

Ahead of his first speech as chancellor, the backdrop has been testing.

Turmoil in global markets for government borrowing has pushed up costs. A few miles from the speech, Britain’s biggest manufacturer, is poised to announce thousands of redundancies. Even this morning, one of the main housing market measures showed a dip in prices for the first time in three years.

And yet surrounded by giant advanced manufacturing robots, the chancellor will strike an upbeat note containing references to optimism, resilience, grit, and that perennial economic phrase about turning a corner.

There is some substance in better economic numbers than other major economies so far in 2026.

The PM's attempt to strike a more positive tone - alongside the weather and World Cup - has also led to some better readings on consumer and business confidence, including from all important recruiters, albeit from a low base.

At the equivalent speech for the past two years, the public has been left with a clear message of tough times, and significant tax rises ahead. Not today.

The chancellor is trying to nurture some fragile early signs that confidence is returning. The burning question is how to fill multi billion gaps in public finance plans before the Budget, in a way that minimises the economic impact. While vibes are important, policy matters more.

Image source, Getty Images

John Healey's first major speech as chancellor will be delivered in Coventry in the next half hour.

Just down the road, Jaguar Land Rover is expected to announce thousands of job cuts to save costs following competition from China for cheap cars, US tariffs on UK vehicles and the after effects of a cyber attack.

The company did not confirm the numbers but the Times reported as many as 4,000 jobs may be lost due to the impact of tariffs and a drop in sales.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has already ruled out any government bailout and will meet leadership this week with the aim to "mitigate any job losses".

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds told Radio 4's Today programme her thoughts were "with the workforce", adding: "We have yet to see the final announcement from the company".

She said the business secretary was “working closely” with JLR’s leadership and trade unions.

Andy Burnham will be facing increasing pressure ahead of next month's Budget after long-term government borrowing costs reached a 18-year high last week.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilt also rose to 5.22% - the highest rate since the height of the global financial crisis in June 2008.

The yield on a 30-year gilt - a loan to the British government - rose to 5.89%, the highest since 1998.

Borrowing costs in the US, Japan and Europe have hit similar highs in recent days, reflecting investors' concerns about inflation, state borrowing levels and spending levels by large tech companies on AI.