Rachel Reeves at the UK International Investment Summit (Image: Getty)
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is reportedly having to face down cabinet members who are demanding she loosen the public purse strings and make greater spending commitments in her upcoming budget.
However, at a meeting of cabinet, she reportedly told ministers that this year's ￡22bn financial blackhole would be recurring over the next five years - meaning there is actually a ￡100bn chasm in the UK's public finances.
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So, despite the pain that is expected to be inflicted by the slashing of the winter fuel allowance, there could well be more hardship to come as the Chancellor opts for fiscal conservatism.
“The chancellor highlighted the ￡22bn black hole inheritance from the previous government that needed to be filled just to keep public services standing still,” a Labour spokesperson said.
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Cabinet members are said to be pushing back against the Chancellor's spending warnings (Image: PA)
The spokesperson added: "She said that the scale of inheritance meant there would have to be difficult decisions on spending, welfare, and tax – and that the long-term priority had to be unlocking private sector investment to drive economic growth.
"The chancellor told cabinet the budget would focus on putting the public finances on a strong footing and being honest with the British people about the scale of the challenge."
The giant shortfall, which the Chancellor announced in the summer, is according the Guardian's Tresury sources a conservative estimate of the amount of money needed to facilitate public sector pay commitments, support for Ukraine and the asylum system.
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1582 Comments
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721 Comments
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200 Comments
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Kirstie Allsopp slams Rachel Reeves 'monster' stamp duty tax raid
2 Comments
Labour faces fresh demands to U-turn on winter fuel cuts after 'damning' new report
241 Comments
Rachel Reeves plotting 'biggest tax raid in history, warns Andrew Neil
435 Comments
Labour MPs fret that Rachel Reeves's tax hikes will lead to humiliating election defeat
71 Comments
Rachel Reeves gives biggest hint yet on what she's plotting to fill UK '￡22bn black hole'
461 Comments
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54 Comments
Rachel Reeves is using 'bogus' ￡40bn blackhole to hike up taxes
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Angela Rayner among Labour ministers furious as 'biggest tax raid in history' mooted
108 Comments
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Rachel Reeves is expected to announce a fiscally conservative budget (Image: Getty)
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A source told the publication: "Ministers do kind of know that we’ll need to fix the black hole every year, but because they see these things through the lens of their own departments, it feels they haven’t really clocked that the scale of the challenge at the budget is so much worse than we expected."
In the run-up to the budget, the Chancellor's first landmark act since taking the reins at Number 11, she is expected to say her tough measures are aimed at "fixing the foundations" of the economy.
Ms Reeves is expected to re-establish a Brownite fiscal rule, that there will be no borrowing for day-to-day spending. Rebranding it her “golden rule”, to try and win back confidence in the markets.