CHANCELLOR Rachel Reeves is expected to announce cuts to infrastructure projects as she addresses public spending and a £20 billion “black hole” in the UK’s finances.
The leading Labour MP will deliver her verdict on the public finances to the Commons on Monday afternoon in a speech that could set the tone for the rest of her time in office.
She is expected to focus on balancing the books, rather than backing investment into UK public services – and Labour are insisting that there will not be tax rises.
Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said on Monday that Labour’s election promise not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT would “still hold”.
What will Rachel Reeves say in her speech?
Reeves will announce the date of her first autumn Budget as she pledges to “restore economic stability” in her speech on Monday.
In the House of Commons, she will say that a Treasury spending audit she commissioned shows that the previous government overspent this year’s budgets by billions of pounds after making a series of unfunded promises.
She will also accuse the previous Conservative administration of “covering up the true state of the public finances”.
Labour have been attempting to claim that the economic inheritance is worse than they expected, even though the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank issued a stark warning about the state of the public finances ahead of the General Election.
Paul Johnson, the director of the IFS, told the BBC that the £20 billion public spending hole the Government is attempting to plug is roughly equivalent in scale to the cost of the Tories’ pre-election national insurance cuts.
“Now, if those cuts were implemented in the knowledge that there was this kind of hole that is not good policy to put it mildly,” he added.
What time will Rachel Reeves give her speech?
The Chancellor’s speech is not listed in the Westminster schedule, but it is expected to take place from around 3:30pm.
According to the Westminster schedule, there will be oral and then topical questions asked of the Home Office from 2:30pm, with a debate on the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill to follow. It is expected that Reeves will speak between these two.
How can you watch Rachel Reeves give her speech?
The Chancellor’s speech will be broadcast live on the Westminster livestream at parliament.tv.
You will also be able to watch it live on Sky News, and the BBC News channel is also likely to broadcast it in full.
