‘Laughable’ for Rachel Reeves to claim she didn’t know true state of the public finances
It is “laughable” for Rachel Reeves to claim she didn’t know the full state of the public finances until she took office, Ruth Davidson has said.
Speaking on Beth Rigby’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the former leader of the Scottish Conservatives accused the new chancellor of trying to “build a political narrative” in order to justify her economic plans.
Ms Reeves is expected to announce tax rises and spending cuts when she unveils her first budget in October.
She has accused the previous Conservative government of “covering up” the true state of the nation’s finances, leaving a £22bn spending hole in their wake.
But Ms Davidson said the idea Ms Reeves didn’t know what the finances are is “completely, laughably wrong”.
“You don’t get into the very guts of the figures until you’re really into the departmental small print, so you do have to be in government to properly see all of the engine,” she said.
“However, the idea that she added [some things] into that total that made this £22bn pound black hole… is nonsense.
“If you paid attention during the election campaign, almost all of the questions to anybody even vaguely related to the Treasury or to the leadership was about how are you going to afford to do this because ‘x x x’.
“So we did know about it. There’s also institutions in place to tell you about it.”
Ms Reeves always said during the election that should Labour win, they would inherit the worst economic legacy since the Second World War and “iron discipline” would be required to balance the books.
Rachel Reeves Pic: Reuters
Since taking office she has said things are even more dismal than she had expected, and that the Tories made spending commitments but failed to allocate the money to fund them.
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Which tax rises could the Labour government introduce in the autumn budget?
Her predecessor Jeremy Hunt has denied that is the case and accused Ms Reeves of using the £22bn “black hole” as a smokescreen to justify tax hikes and spending cuts she was always planning.
Labour ruled out increasing major taxes in their manifesto – such as NI, VAT and Income Tax – but reports suggest Ms Reeves could hike Inheritance Tax or Capital Gains Tax in what is expected to be a “grim” October budget.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said that Ms Reeves is being disingenuous – but “no one comes out smelling like roses”.
The Conservatives did leave a lot for the new government to clear up, according to director Paul Johnson, and “were not always honest” about the challenges ahead.
But he concluded: “The chancellor cannot honestly announce a series of tax rises in her October budget, blame them on this hole that she has just discovered, and claim that she couldn’t have known pre-election that tax rises would be needed to maintain public services. That fact was obvious to all who cared to look.”
Politics
Wes Streeting ‘crossed the line’ by opposing assisted dying in public, says Labour peer Harriet Harman
Wes Streeting “crossed the line” by opposing assisted dying in public and the argument shouldn’t “come down to resources”, a Labour peer has said.
Speaking on Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Baroness Harriet Harman criticised the health secretary for revealing how he is going to vote on the matter when it comes before parliament later this month.
MPs are being given a free vote, meaning they can side with their conscience and not party lines, so the government is supposed to be staying neutral.
But Mr Streeting has made clear he will vote against legalising assisted dying, citing concerns end-of-life care is not good enough for people to make an informed choice, and that some could feel pressured into the decision to save the NHS money.
He has also ordered a review into the potential costs of changing the law, warning it could come at the expense of other NHS services if implemented.
Baroness Harman said Mr Streeting has “crossed the line in two ways”.
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“He should not have said how he was going to vote, because that breaches neutrality and sends a signal,” she said.
“And secondly… he’s said the problem is that it will cost money to bring in an assisted dying measure, and therefore he will have to cut other services.
“But paradoxically, he also said it would be a slippery slope because people will be forced to bring about their own death in order to save the NHS money. Well, it can’t be doing both things.
“It can’t be both costing the NHS money and saving the NHS money.”
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Review into assisted dying costs
Baroness Harman said the argument “should not come down to resources” as it is a “huge moral issue” affecting “only a tiny number of people”.
She added that people should not mistake Mr Streeting for being “a kind of proxy for Keir Starmer”.
“The government is genuinely neutral and all of those backbenchers, they can vote whichever way they want,” she added.
Read more on this story:
‘Fix care before assisted dying legislation’
Why assisted dying is controversial – and where it’s already legal
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously expressed support for assisted dying, but it is not clear how he intends to vote on the issue or if he will make his decision public ahead of time.
The cabinet has varying views on the topic, with the likes of Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood siding with Mr Streeting in her opposition but Energy Secretary Ed Miliband being for it.
Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband is said to support the bill. Pic: Reuters
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has concerns. Pic: Reuters
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The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is being championed by Labour backbencher Kim Leadbeater, who wants to give people with six months left to live the choice to end their lives.
Under her proposals, two independent doctors must confirm a patient is eligible for assisted dying and a High Court judge must give their approval.
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Labour MP Kim Leadbeater discusses End of Life Bill
The bill will also include punishments of up to 14 years in prison for those who break the law, including coercing someone into ending their own life.
MPs will debate and vote on the legislation on 29 November, in what will be the first Commons vote on assisted dying since 2015, when the proposal was defeated.
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