Britain’s new finance minister Rachel Reeves will accuse the previous Conservative government of pledging billions of pounds in spending without proper budgeting, as per her upcoming statement to parliament.
In office for just three weeks following a landslide election win, Labour has highlighted unexpectedly severe challenges in public policy areas.Reeves will present a new assessment revealing a shortfall of around 20 billion pounds ($26 billion) and claim the former government overspent this year’s budgets.
Upon taking office, Reeves instructed officials to conduct a fresh assessment of public funding needs. This assessment will be presented to parliament on Monday, setting the stage for her first formal budget statement later this year. Labour Party sources indicated that the financial shortfall reflects a broader issue of Britain’s current economic state. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office stated it would “show that Britain is broke and broken.”
Late on Sunday, the finance ministry elaborated that the audit would reveal “the previous government overspent this year’s budgets by billions of pounds after making a series of unfunded promises.” Reeves will also introduce several measures to improve financial management, including the establishment of a new Office of Value for Money, a crackdown on government waste, reduced use of external consultants, and the sale of unused government properties.
In her speech, Reeves will assert, “The previous government refused to take the difficult decisions. They covered up the true state of the public finances. And then they ran away.”
The Conservative Party has dismissed Labour’s accusations, suggesting that the new government is using this as a justification to raise taxes, despite Labour’s campaign promises not to increase main taxes such as income tax and value-added tax. The party reiterated that budget forecasts from March were approved by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), although there have been widespread reports of financial strain in areas like prisons and healthcare.
Conservative lawmaker Gareth Davies, who speaks for the party on budget policy, responded by saying, “Rachel Reeves is trying to con the British public into accepting Labour’s tax rises. She wants to pretend that the OBR…whose forecasting was used in all of the last Conservative government’s budgets, doesn’t exist.”
In office for just three weeks following a landslide election win, Labour has highlighted unexpectedly severe challenges in public policy areas.Reeves will present a new assessment revealing a shortfall of around 20 billion pounds ($26 billion) and claim the former government overspent this year’s budgets.
Upon taking office, Reeves instructed officials to conduct a fresh assessment of public funding needs. This assessment will be presented to parliament on Monday, setting the stage for her first formal budget statement later this year. Labour Party sources indicated that the financial shortfall reflects a broader issue of Britain’s current economic state. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office stated it would “show that Britain is broke and broken.”
Late on Sunday, the finance ministry elaborated that the audit would reveal “the previous government overspent this year’s budgets by billions of pounds after making a series of unfunded promises.” Reeves will also introduce several measures to improve financial management, including the establishment of a new Office of Value for Money, a crackdown on government waste, reduced use of external consultants, and the sale of unused government properties.
In her speech, Reeves will assert, “The previous government refused to take the difficult decisions. They covered up the true state of the public finances. And then they ran away.”
The Conservative Party has dismissed Labour’s accusations, suggesting that the new government is using this as a justification to raise taxes, despite Labour’s campaign promises not to increase main taxes such as income tax and value-added tax. The party reiterated that budget forecasts from March were approved by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), although there have been widespread reports of financial strain in areas like prisons and healthcare.
Conservative lawmaker Gareth Davies, who speaks for the party on budget policy, responded by saying, “Rachel Reeves is trying to con the British public into accepting Labour’s tax rises. She wants to pretend that the OBR…whose forecasting was used in all of the last Conservative government’s budgets, doesn’t exist.”