Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled a ￡22 billion black hole in Government finances (Image: Getty)

       Jeremy Hunt looked furious when Chancellor Rachel Reeves claimed the Tories “hid” the true extent of Treasury overspend from the public.

       She said a projected ￡22 billion “hole” in the public finances was “covered up” by the previous Conservative government.

       Former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt says "today's black hole is spurious".

       He added: "She will fool absolutely no one with a shameless attempt for tax rises she didn’t have the courage to tell us about"

       Speaking in the Commons, Ms Reeves said: “Let me be clear. I’m not talking about costs for future years that (the Conservatives) signed up to but did not include, like the compensation for infected blood, which has cross-party support.

       “I’m not talking about the state of public services in the future, about the crisis in our prisons which they have left for us to fix.

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       “I’m talking about the money that they were already spending this year and had no ability to pay for which they hid from the country. They had exhausted the reserve, and they knew that, but nobody else did.

       “They ducked the difficult decisions, they put party before country and they continued to make unfunded commitment after unfunded commitment, knowing that the money was not there, resulting in the position that we have now inherited.

       “The reserve spent more than three times over only three months into the financial year, and they told no-one. The scale of this overspend is not sustainable. Not to act is simply not an option.”

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       There was “not enough money set aside for the reserve” to fund costs associated with Ukraine, the Chancellor has said.

       Ms Reeves told the Commons: “Since 2022, the Government – with the support of this whole House – has rightly provided military assistance to Ukraine in response to the Russian invasion.

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       “The spending audit has found that there was not enough money set aside for the reserve to fund all these costs.

       “We will continue to honour these commitments in full and, unlike the previous government, we will make sure that they are always fully funded.”

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