If you were Prime Minister, how would you balance the UK's books?
Adjust taxes and government spending to see how your decisions affect
the deficit or surplus.
Baseline Government Income
£1,301bn
2026–27 baseline
Baseline Government Expenditure
£1,419bn
Total managed expenditure
Your Surplus / Deficit
−£118bn
Deficit
Economic growth / decline
Adjust the size of the economy. In this simplified scenario,
growth increases government receipts and decline reduces them.
0%
−10%No change+10%
Reduce all government expenditure
Apply a reduction to discretionary government spending to see how much
would need to be cut to balance the books. Debt interest is excluded.
0%
0%30%
Government Income
Adjust taxation and other government receipts.
Government Expenditure
Decide where the government should spend more or less.
About this calculator:
This is a scenario calculator rather than a Treasury forecasting model.
The income baseline uses the Office for Budget Responsibility's March 2026
forecast for 2026–27. The spending breakdown uses HM Treasury's published
2026–27 functional allocation, with social protection split into illustrative
sub-categories. Changing a tax rate does not attempt to predict behavioural
responses, changes in employment, tax avoidance, economic growth or other
second-order effects. Figures are rounded and intended to illustrate
the choices involved in balancing the UK's public finances.