Chancellor has warned there is a £22 billion black hole in the public’s finances which they have “inherited” from the Conservative Party.
Rachel Reeves has vowed in a statement to MPs in Parliament on Monday afternoon that she and the government will set out “immediate action” and they will address the issues.
Reeves told MPs that an audit that was ordered by the Labour government when they took office has uncovered the true scale of the state of public finances.
The Chancellor said, “Before the election, I said that we would face the worst inheritance since the Second World War.
“Taxes at a 70-year high, debt through the roof, an economy only just coming out of recession.
“I knew all of these things. I was honest about them during the campaign.”
Reeves added there are a few things that Rishi Sunak’s government had “covered up from the country.”
She warned there is a “£22 billion hole in the public finances now, not in the future, but now.”
The Chancellor also told MPs that she will deliver her first Budget on 30 October which will set out new tax spending along with economic forecasts from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
“It will be a budget to fix the foundations of our economy and it will be a budget built on the principles that this new government was elected on,” she said.
“We will treat taxpayers money with respect by ensuring that every pound is well spent and we will interrogate every line of public spending to ensure it represents value for money,” she added to MPs.
