UK politics: Reeves only a ‘gnat’s whisker’ from having to raise taxes in autumn, says IFS – as it happened

Rachel Reeves presenting her spending review yesterday. Photograph: House of Commons/AFP/Getty Images

4.34pm BST

Afternoon summary

• Britain is on track to become a “National Health State” where half of all public spending is allocated to the NHS and social care by the end of the decade, according to a leading thinktank.

• Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has rejected police claims that they will have to cut frontline officer numbers because of the spending review. (See 8.24am.)

• Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, has said the government won’t wait for the outcome of its Pip asssessment review before cutting eligibility for the benefit. (See 10.50am.)

• The Conservatives have urged the information watchdog to open an investigation into Reform UK, because of risks around data it has requested for its town hall cost-cutting drive. (See 2.27pm.)

• The UK economy contracted in April by 0.3% as businesses cut jobs and cancelled investment plans in response to higher taxes and the uncertainty created by Donald Trump’s tariff war.

For a full list of all the stories covered here today, scroll through the key events timeline at the top of the blog.

4.26pm BST

Streeting says 10-year plan for NHS in England could break down divisions between hospital and GP care

Hospitals could take over GP surgeries and family doctors could run hospitals under radical plans to reform the NHS in England, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has suggested.

Speaking at the NHS ConfedExpo conference in Manchester, Streeting said that under the 10-year health plan being published in July “much of what’s done in a hospital today will be done on the high street”.

But this was not “another top-down reorganisation” of the NHS, he said.

Streeting said:

The NHS should not be bound by traditional expectations of how services should be arranged.

I am open to our strongest acute trusts providing not just community services, as many already do, but also primary care.

Whatever services will enable them to meet the needs of their patients in a more integrated and efficient way.

Indeed, I would hope that those old-fashioned labels – acute, community – become increasingly meaningless.

Likewise, there is no reason why successful GPs should not be able to run local hospitals, or why nurses should not be leading neighbourhood health services.

Commenting on the speech, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said:

The secretary of state is right that the divides between acute, primary, community are already being broken down, supported by the work of integrated care boards.

Redesigning services is essential to the future of the NHS and many providers are already breaking down their traditional silos to offer patients truly personalised and integrated care.

Updated at 4.29pm BST