As she accused her predecessor, Jeremy Hunt, of intentionally concealing the truth about the state of the United Kingdom’s finances, the chancellor stated that her predecessor had “lied” about the situation.
Rachel Reeves stated that it was “unforgivable” that the Conservatives’ decision to leave a financial black hole of 22 billion pounds was made after they announced a series of spending cuts on Monday.
“Jeremy Hunt concealed the true state of the public finances from the House of Commons and from the remainder of the country,” she stated in an interview with Sky News. Intentionally and U, he carried out that action.
It was a lie. They also misled about the state of the public finances while they were running for office during the election campaign.
During the campaign, the Conservatives made a promise to reduce taxes, but they did so “while simultaneously being aware that there was already a gaping hole in the public finances that was worth 22 billion pounds.”
“It is beyond reckless and irresponsible,” she stated to reporters.
“It is unforgiveable, and they should never be allowed to have their hands on power and our public finances again.”
At the same time that Mr. Hunt stated that he was “of course” outraged over being called a liar, he also stated to Sky News that “I’m disappointed more than anything else.”
“I thought more highly of Rachel Reeves, and I actually praised her on election night as being a committed civil servant,” he continued. “I was truly impressed by her accomplishments.”
“I believe that she is capable of doing even more than that.
“I think it’s very disappointing that the new government is choosing to do politics this way; I think it actually discredits politics when people call each other liars.”
During her address in the House of Commons yesterday, Ms. Reeves refrained from labeling Mr. Hunt a liar. In the House of Commons, it is known that calling a member of parliament a liar can result in a suspension.
During her interview with Sky News this morning, however, she did not maintain any reserve.
During an interview with Sky News, Ms. Reeves reaffirmed her position that the Conservative administration did not provide the independent pay review committees with a responsibility to determine what was affordable for this year.
Following receipt of remittances from the government, the bodies provide recommendations to the government regarding the payments that should be made to employees of the public sector, such as those working in the National Health Service (NHS). These suggestions are not legally binding.
In her statement, Ms. Reeves stated that she “did not know until I became chancellor” that the previous administration had not granted an affordability remit.
She stated that the cost of adopting the suggestions recommended by the pay review committees is £9.4 billion, and she has requested that government departments absorb £3.2 billion in order to lower the expense of settling disputes with workers in the public sector.
“But the alternative is a situation where we continue to struggle to recruit and retain soldiers and officers in our armed forces, where we continue to struggle to recruit doctors and nurses in our NHS, and where we struggle to retain public sector workers,” she explained to reporters.
“And that has a cost as well.”
Ms. Reeves had to confess that she had to make “difficult decisions” on Monday, one of which was to stop the winter heating payment for certain retirees in order to save £1.5 billion annually.
She issued a warning, saying, “There are more challenging decisions to come.” I am not referring to any one organization.
“There will be more difficult choices to come in the autumn, but it was important to make this choice yesterday to get our public finances on a firmer footing and to get a grip on public spending.”