The UK’s new Chancellor wants everyone to buy British
Key Points
- John Healey delivered his first speech as Chancellor to Treasury staff on 21 July 2026
- He pledged to spend every procurement pound buying British by design in transport, energy, defence, AI and tech
- Healey committed to meeting the fiscal rules with a buffer for uncertainty agreed with Andy Burnham
- The government cut VAT from electricity bills this week as its first affordability measure
- Healey returned to the Treasury nearly 20 years after serving there under Gordon Brown
John Healey used his first speech as Chancellor to promise that the government will spend “every procurement pound” on British jobs, apprenticeships and businesses by design rather than by exception.
Healey addressed Treasury staff in Whitehall on Tuesday (21 July), the day after Prime Minister Andy Burnham appointed him in a surprise reshuffle that removed Rachel Reeves from Number 11.
The former Defence Secretary set out five priorities for his time at the Treasury, with a key focus being to procure locally for Whitehall.
Buying British by design
Healey told officials the government will back “British benefits, British apprenticeships, British jobs” through its purchasing power. He said the Treasury will pursue “buying British not if possible, but by design” and named five sectors where the approach will apply: transport, energy, defence, AI and tech.
Departments have historically treated domestic sourcing as a preference to weigh against cost and competition rules, and Healey’s formulation moves it to a starting assumption across some of the largest areas of public spending.
He offered no detail on how the policy will interact with the UK’s international procurement commitments, and the Treasury has published no accompanying guidance.
The pledge extends a theme from Healey’s previous role. As Defence Secretary from July 2024, he championed British industry as “a nation of makers and inventors” and pushed procurement commitments that reach beyond political cycles.
Fiscal rules with a buffer
Healey named fiscal discipline as his first priority and described fiscal credibility as the bedrock of economic stability and national security. He committed to meeting the fiscal rules and said he and Burnham had agreed to do so “in lockstep”, while ensuring “a buffer also for uncertainty”.
That buffer language marks a departure from the final years of his predecessor, when repeated forecasts left Reeves with slim headroom against her own rules. Healey gave no figure for the margin he intends to hold.
His other priorities covered growth in every postcode, with every department treated as a growth department, wealth creation backed by government commitments, and affordability.
On the last, he pointed to the government’s decision this week to cut VAT from electricity bills, which he said gives households breathing space ahead of winter.
He also promised “a new era of devolution and public control”, a phrase he described as a principle rather than a political buzzword, without defining what public control will cover.
Healey last worked in the Treasury as a minister under Gordon Brown, leaving in the 2008 to 2009 period as the global financial crisis hit. He told staff that crisis produced austerity, low growth and almost 15 years of stagnant living conditions, and that the new government intends to change course quickly.
