New Chancellor reconfirms date of 2020 budget

Following his appointment after Sajid Javid’s resignation, the UK’s new Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced that the date of the government’s 2020 Budget statement will remain unchanged.

In a Twitter post, Mr Sunak confirmed that the Budget would take place as planned on 11th March 2020.

As the new Chancellor has been in the position for only a week, there was some speculation that the 2020 Budget would be delayed, given Mr Sunak’s unexpected promotion from Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

In his post on Twitter, the Chancellor said that the budget statement would “deliver on promises we made to the British people – levelling up and unleashing the country’s potential.”

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps had previously commented in a number of television interviews that while Budget preparations were at an advanced stage, it was the decision of the new Chancellor should he wish to delay the Budget, given his short tenure in office.

Rishi Sunak has been the MP for Richmond in Yorkshire since 2015, and has been named Chancellor after first entering the cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 2019. Age 39, he is the second youngest person to hold the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, and is the first British-Indian to hold the position.