Rachel Reeves will unveil the date of her first budget on Monday (Image: Getty)
Rachel Reeves is preparing Britons for autumn tax rises by gearing up to unveil a ￡19 billion black hole in public finances, reports have suggested.
The Chancellor is set to blame pressures on the NHS, prisons, asylum systems and schools for the funding gap after asking Treasury officials to prepare an assessment of the "spending inheritance" left by the Tories.
Officials are in the process of examining the spending commitments of each department.
This means the final figure is still "moving around" and has not yet been finalised despite being revealed as soon as Monday.
There have been suggestions the number could be “managed down” through efficiency savings, or delaying or restricting existing projects.
Ms Reeves’ announcement of a shortfall and resulting tax rises has been widely expected among policy experts for several months.
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But Labour refused to discuss in detail the challenge it would meet in power as it sought to deflect Conservative attacks on its record during the general election campaign.
The audit is set to be presented to Parliament on Monday, when Ms Reeves will also announce the date for her first Budget.
The Treasury is expected to publish an unvarnished assessment of the public finances based on the latest figures from every department.
A Whitehall source told the Telegraph: “They aren’t simple calculations because a lot of departments are making lots of different assumptions.
Experts have warned that the Chancellor is preparing to raise taxes by up to ￡25 billion this autumn to ease a significant spending squeeze.
Ms Reeves will decide how to tackle the nation’s black hole when she reviews public spending alongside Treasury officials in the run-up to the Budget.
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Despite warning of the “difficult decisions” required to “fix the foundations” of the public finances, Ms Reeves is expected to sign off a series of above-inflation pay deals next week.
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One former Whitehall official said: “Departments routinely overbid and then underspend billions of pounds. Then programmes get delayed or undersubscribed so payments aren’t needed. And departments do find efficiency savings if pushed by the Treasury. Reeves could also make an active choice to delay or restrict something.”
Sir Keir Starmer has already hinted that higher taxes are on the way after warning that Britain was facing “a more severe crisis than we thought as we go through the books” with “failure absolutely everywhere”.
A Treasury spokesman said: “The Chancellor has commissioned officials to provide an assessment of the state of the government’s spending inheritance which will be presented to Parliament before the summer recess.”
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