Reeves and Hunt in fiery clash over public finance black hole: ‘How dare they?’
Reeves and Hunt in fiery clash over public finance black holeReuters
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00They had exhausted the Reserve, and they knew that, but nobody else did.
00:04Yet they ducked the difficult decisions, they put party before country, and they continued
00:14to make unfunded commitment after unfunded commitment, knowing that the money was not
00:19there, resulting in the position that we have now inherited.
00:24The Reserve spent more than three times over, only three months into the financial year,
00:31and they told no-one.
00:32Mr Speaker, the scale of this overspend is not sustainable, not to act is simply not
00:37an option.
00:38We have already seen official ONS figures this month, showing that borrowing is higher
00:43this year than the OBR expected.
00:46And the disaster of Listrust's mini-budget shows what happens if you don't take tough
00:51decisions to maintain economic stability.
00:54Some, including the Leader of the Opposition and the Shadow Chancellor, have claimed the
00:58books were open.
01:00How dare they?
01:01It is not true.
01:02And let me tell you why.
01:10There are very clear instances of specific budgets that were overspent, and unfunded
01:15promises that were made, but that, crucially, the OBR was not aware of for their March forecast.