{
  "id": 2145221,
  "title": "Healey told tax rises for fiscal remedy are ‘not required’",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/20/healey-told-tax-rises-for-fiscal-remedy-are-not-required",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-08-20T13:24:30.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "City AM",
    "slug": "city-am",
    "url": "https://www.cityam.com/healey-told-tax-rises-for-fiscal-remedy-are-not-required/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Panmure Liberum economist Simon French has stated that Chancellor John Healey does not need to raise taxes to provide the UK economy with \"immediate remedial action\" during the Budget. French's analysis suggests that the government's fiscal outlook will remain largely unchanged from the beginning of 2026, despite commitments to Labour's manifesto and current fiscal rules. The fiscal headroom might not have been significantly impacted by the energy price shock caused by the Iran war. French believes that market participants' fears of a fiscal squeeze in October are unfounded, as there is no evidence indicating a major deterioration in fiscal headroom since March. Factors such as modestly better-than-expected growth, the impact of net migration trends, and unreliable labour market data have led to the reduction of about £5bn from the fiscal buffer, currently set at £22.7bn by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Higher equity prices could partially offset the costs of increased gilt yields, which raise the projected government borrowing costs. French argues that only significant tax reforms, such as extending national insurance to savings and investments, replacing the inheritance tax regime, lowering pension tax relief, or reforming property taxes, could provide substantial tax revenue gains to fund radical policies. French bases his view on the upcoming Budget, which will be the first under Andy Burnham's premiership, with ambitions to raise defence spending to three percent of GDP by 2030, increase the personal income tax allowance, and boost funding for social care.",
  "summary": "Chancellor John Healey does not have to raise taxes to offer the UK economy “immediate remedial action” at the Budget, a top City economist has said. Panmure Liberum economist Simon French, who formerly worked at the Treasury, said the fiscal outlook for the government would be “broadly in the same position” as in the beginning [...]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}