British finance minister Rishi Sunak will try to show that he is moving on from the COVID-19 pandemic on Wednesday when he announces multi-billion-pound investments to help Prime Minister Boris Johnson meet his spending promises to voters, Trend reports citing Reuters.
But Sunak, who has racked up the biggest ever peacetime budget deficit to combat the coronavirus, will also keep a tight grip on day-to-day spending by many government departments, something that could slow Britain's still incomplete recovery.
As well as a budget update - which for once is not expected to include emergency stimulus measures - Sunak will announce a three-year spending plan with investments in public transport, skills training and other projects to advance Johnson's plan to "level up" poorer regions of the country.
At the same time, he will try to burnish the government's low-carbon credentials before Britain hosts the COP26 climate summit starting next week.