{"id":308928,"date":"2025-12-10T13:40:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T13:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/308928\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T13:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T13:40:08","slug":"rachel-reeves-major-budget-blow-after-sharpest-fall-in-years-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/308928\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel Reeves’ major Budget blow after ‘sharpest fall in years’ | Politics | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

An industry expert has warned Rachel Reeves that she should be rethinking her approach after new statistics revealed the sharpest fall in a key economic<\/a> output for five and a half years. Analysis of the construction sector in November by market data firm S&P Global<\/a> suggested that activity across housing<\/a>, commercial and civil engineering dropped to levels last seen during the pandemic. Specialists said that all three construction sub-sectors saw the greatest fall in activity since May 2020, and observed “steep reductions in new orders and employment”. Business optimism was also the weakest since December 2022.<\/p>\n

In a blow to the Government’s 1.5million homes target, the report stated that sub-sector data showed that housing activity, commercial construction and civil engineering all experienced the fastest downturns in activity for five-and-a-half years. “Survey respondents commented on fragile market confidence, delays with the release of new projects and a general lack of incoming new work,” the document added.<\/p>\n

“Total new business decreased at a rapid pace in November.<\/p>\n

“Around 44% of the survey panel reported a fall in new orders, while only 17% signalled an increase.”<\/p>\n

Experts also wrote: “Construction companies commented on sales headwinds due to risk aversion among clients, worries about the UK economic outlook and elevated business uncertainty ahead of the Budget.<\/p>\n

“Employment numbers across the construction sector decreased for the eleventh consecutive month in November, reflecting a lack of new work to replace completed projects and elevated wage pressures.<\/p>\n

“The latest fall in staffing levels was the steepest since August 2020. Subcontractor usage also decreased, as has been the case in each month since December 2024.”<\/p>\n

Steven Mulholland, CEO of the Construction Plant-hire Association, told The Express<\/a> that the data “should be sounding alarm bells in Downing Street”.<\/p>\n

He added: “This is not a natural cooling of the market; it is the consequence of a policy environment that has become more expensive, more uncertain and increasingly hostile to the very investment the sector needs.<\/p>\n

“Without renewed domestic and overseas investment, we cannot hope to restart the infrastructure and construction growth that underpins an industry employing around 10% of the UK workforce.<\/p>\n

\u201cFamily-run firms are the backbone of Britain\u2019s construction industry, yet they are being hit hardest by rising employer National Insurance costs and the uncertainty created by recent inheritance tax reforms.<\/p>\n

“At a time when the sector needs more than 400,000 additional workers, making it more expensive to hire is a fundamental mistake – and the prospect of higher inheritance tax bills is already delaying investment in the very projects needed to get Britain building again.”<\/p>\n

Mr Mulholland then called on the Government to “reset its approach”.<\/p>\n

He said: Clear guidance on inheritance tax, reversing the National Insurance rise and setting out a stable long-term tax framework would give businesses the certainty they need to invest, hire and deliver the homes and infrastructure the country urgently needs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An industry expert has warned Rachel Reeves that she should be rethinking her approach after new statistics revealed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[15836,84,123362,1294,123363,1445,56,123361,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-308928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-budget-2025","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-economic-downturn","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-government-policy-impact","13":"tag-rachel-reeves","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-uk-construction-sector","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}