Breathing space for households, and for Scottish public finances?

Scottish Parliament · 28 October 2026

This blog summarises the key messages in the 2026 UK Budget, setting out the impact on the upcoming Scottish Budget.

On Wednesday 28 October the UK Chancellor delivered the UK Budget for 2027-28. This UK Budget comes after a period of considerable economic and political change in the UK and globally. This is the first fiscal event since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister, since the 2026 Scottish election, and since the escalation of conflict in the Middle East.

This blog will summarise some of the key messages in the UK Budget, and the implications for the upcoming Scottish Budget for 2027-28.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) last published economic and fiscal forecasts on 3 March 2026. This was only 3 days after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran, and so at a time of considerable uncertainty. This has already contributed to higher inflation than had been expected prior to the conflict, and further energy price increases are expected in 2027.

Source: Scottish Parliament, 28 October 2026. Added automatically from the source.