UK Chancellor Answers Bond Rout With £150m Fund

Healey will insist the northern money is hard economics, not favoritism toward Prime Minister Andy Burnham's home region: "This is not sentimentality, it's supply side economics." He will also say: "I want to see wealth creation in this country. I want to see businesses make a profit," adding that Britain needs "an active, accountable state at all levels to remove blockages and create the conditions for more investment."

Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith dismissed the speech as a "policy-light word salad from a chancellor who seemingly does not understand how growth is created." He said it "will do little to comfort hard-working families and businesses across the country who are worried about more tax rises or the fact that government borrowing rates are near a 28 year high," and faulted Healey — "the man who resigned over defence spending" — for not addressing how Britain reaches 3% of GDP on defense amid "serious threats from Russia and Iran on our doorstep."

Reform UK Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick was blunter: "Even Rachel Reeves had more vision than this guff. Days after a market meltdown, when grip and direction are required, John Healey has revealed himself to be an empty vessel with no idea about how to rescue our economy." Jenrick predicted taxes on working people "will inevitably rise at the budget."

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said Healey was ignoring "the Brexit trade barriers choking our exporters," and argued that "re-announcing £150 million across the entire North of England will barely shift the dial on growth."