Budget 2026: Healey hikes taxes on banks and landlords to fund £100 handouts to 20m households

AI desk brief

UK Chancellor John Healey raised taxes on banks and landlords to fund a £100 winter payment for 20 million households, while the OBR lifted its inflation outlook to almost 4% and cut 2027 growth expectations. The article ties the budget to the Middle East energy shock, with war in Iran driving up oil and gas prices, and notes that higher inflation and interest rates have already added £14bn to the government’s interest bill this year.

For metals, the main takeaway is a mildly supportive macro backdrop: firmer inflation, higher household energy bills and the prospect of still-tight policy tend to keep real yields under pressure if growth slows. Bond markets were described as unruffled, however, and the budget was framed as fiscally cautious, so the immediate gold impulse looks more macro-supportive than outright risk-on.