Budget briefing: the key questions answered by Heather Stewart and Pippa Crerar

Explainer Budget briefing: the key questions answered by Heather Stewart and Pippa Crerar Our economics and political editors dissect John Healey’s maiden budget

The Guardian’s economics editor, Heather Stewart, and political editor, Pippa Crerar, assess the chancellor’s budget: what he said, why – and what he left out.

Not at all. Reassuring febrile financial markets appeared to be one of Andy Burnham’s motivations in putting Healey in No 11, and this ‘steady-as-she-goes’ budget seems to have met that brief, for now.

The chancellor promised to keep Labour’s deficit-reduction plans on track, albeit at a slower pace in the early years of the forecast – raising taxes modestly to do so.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) now expects him to meet his crucial first fiscal rule – to balance day-to-day spending with revenues – with a margin of £15bn to spare. That’s a slimmer cushion than the £24bn Rachel Reeves had at the spring statement, but investors appear to have taken it in their stride, with barely a flutter in the bond markets. Healey stressed that he plans to rebuild his headroom back to £22bn by 2030-31. “That is what a buffer is for. Use it when you need it, rebuild it when you can,” he said.

However, the OBR’s forecasts underlined the significant hit to Britain’s public finances from higher borrowing costs – which it said had cost the government an additional £14bn in interest costs alone. Partly as a result, borrowing is set to be £8bn higher than expected this year, before heading back to target over time. And Healey has delayed a series of knotty decisions on tax and spend for a critical spending review next year.

Government insiders had briefed that the budget would be “low key”, with tough decisions over public spending – including on defence and welfare – put off to the spending review. But that didn’t stop Labour MPs asking “Is that it?” when Healey sat down from the dispatch box.

While they welcomed support for energy bills – the only rabbit in the budget – and other cost of living measures, they are impatient for Burnham to deliver the radical change he has argued the country needs. “That won’t end 40 years of neoliberalism, will it?” one MP remarked to the Guardian.

Healey’s decision to increase taxes on banks is likely to land well with the public – it is an industry which has made massive profits and does not elicit much sympathy from voters – but some Labour MPs are already questioning why he did not go much further to give himself more room for manoeuvre this winter.