New Chancellor confirms October Budget amid Cabinet cuts warning

John Healey has set October as the date for his first Budget as Chancellor, ending weeks of speculation about the timing. The Independent reports he has told Cabinet ministers to prepare for spending cuts to finance new commitments made by the Prime Minister.

The Daily Mail notes the Budget will be held in October, while The Guardian reports the PM is already risking a first backbench revolt over apparent support for continued North Sea drilling - a sign the honeymoon period may be shorter than usual.

The bench has now watched every Chancellor since the war arrive with a plan to square the circle: more spending, lower taxes, and fiscal discipline all at once. The arithmetic tends to win. What makes this iteration worth watching is the sequence: promises first, sums later. The question is not whether cuts arrive - they always do - but whether they fall on the departments least able to complain, or on the pledges that won the election.

October is the date to watch. By then we will know whether the Cabinet warnings were theatre or prophecy, and whether the PM's early commitments survive contact with the Treasury's spreadsheet.