This week’s spending review gives the chancellor the chance to recover the political momentum he lost in a series of U-turns
Rishi Sunak will face his sternest test this week when he stands up in parliament to outline the latest post-coronavirus economic recovery plan. Billed as a major part of the government’s post-Dominic Cummings reboot, the spending review will set out the budget limits for departments across Whitehall over the next financial year.
More than that, the chancellor will be under pressure to show how the government’s “levelling-up” agenda to boost northern towns and cities will translate into actual projects, and what an infrastructure revolution means in practice.