Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled the 2025 Spending Review, which included an announcement to delay the gigabit broadband rollout from 2030 to 2032.
The Spending Review sets out departmental budgets for the next four years for both day-to-day spending and investment. This Review is a major milestone for the Government, marking nearly a year of Labour being in office - and all the pressures that come with it.
For context, the Chancellor has already put in place two self-imposed fiscal rules: that day-to-day spending should be covered by tax revenue and not borrowing; and that the amount of government debt should fall as a share of national income by the end of the current parliament.
Notably, this is the first “zero-based” Spending Review since 2007, meaning that departments have had to start their budgets from scratch and justify business cases for every pound they spend. However, Reeves announced a 2.3% increase in departmental budgets across the review period, with notable uplifts for science and tech.
For telecoms, most announcements focused on nationwide connectivity and closing the digital divide, including £1.9bn for Building Digital UK over the Spending Review to fund the continuation of Project Gigabit., and a new target for gigabit-capable broadband to reach 99% of UK premises by 2032. Meanwhile, a commitment was made to achieve greater coverage in Scotland and Wales within the Spending Review period, including through improving rural 4G access via the Shared Rural Network (SRN).