The Chancellor has confirmed her first Budget will take place on October 30 in a speech in which she blasted the Conservatives for “covering up” a £22bn black hole in public finances.
Speaking in Parliament today, Rachel Reeves described the inheritance left to her by the previous government was “unforgivable” and said it had given the public “false hope” by making unfunded promises.
She said that as a result she would have to make “difficult decisions” to stabilise the economy in her upcoming Budget.
Speculation has been mounting that the Chancellor is planning to increase capital gains tax in line with income tax to raise revenue.
Some have suggested she could also target inheritance tax to raise more money.
In her speech today, Reeves said she would be asking government departments to find savings and that she would be introducing a multi-year spending review as part of this autumn’s Budget.
She announced that she would be taking legislative steps to ensure that there could never be a repeat of Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget as well as to prevent ministers from covering up the true state of the public finances as she claimed the Tories have done.
In an unexpected move, she also said that the winter fuel payment for pensioners would be limited to those on pension credit.