Rachel Reeves accuses Jeremy Hunt of lying about ‘true state’ of UK money

The Chancellor said her predecessor Jeremy Hunt had “lied” by accusing him of deliberately covering up the truth about the state of the UK’s finances.
After announcing a series of spending cuts on Monday, Rachel Reeves said it was “inexcusable” for the Conservatives to leave a £22bn funding gap.
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“Jeremy Hunt has hidden the true state of the public finances from the House of Commons and the country. He has done so knowingly and deliberately,” she told Sky News.
“It is a lie. They lied during the election campaign about the state of the public finances.”
Ms Reeves added that the Conservatives promised tax cuts during the campaign “despite knowing there was a £22bn black hole in the public finances”.
“It’s beyond reckless and irresponsible,” he said.
“It is unforgivable and they should never be allowed to gain power and control of our public finances again.”
Hunt said he was “of course” angry at being called a liar, but told Sky News: “I’m more disappointed than anything else.”
“I thought better of Rachel Reeves, in fact I praised her on election night for being a committed public servant,” he added.
I think you can do better than that.
“I think it’s very disappointing that the new government has chosen to do politics in this way, and I think politics really does itself a disservice when people call themselves liars.”
Reeves’ argument is “not credible.”
Ms Reeves stopped short of calling Mr Hunt a liar during her speech in the House of Commons yesterday, where calling an MP a liar can lead to their suspension.
But he did not back down when he spoke to Sky News this morning.
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Ms Reeves stood firm, telling Sky News that the Conservative government had not given independent pay review bodies a mandate for what was on the table this year.
The bodies advise the government on how much public sector employees, such as those in the NHS, should earn each year after being commissioned by the government, and they are not bound by the recommendations.
Ms Reeves said she “didn’t know until I became chancellor” that the previous government had not provided an affordability mandate.
It said the cost of implementing the pay review bodies’ recommendations was £9.4 billion, and called on government departments to absorb £3.2 billion to reduce the cost of resolving disputes with public sector workers.
“But the alternative is a situation where we continue to struggle to recruit and retain soldiers and officers in our armed forces, where we continue to struggle to recruit doctors and nurses in our NHS, where we struggle to retain workers in the public sector,” he added.
“This also comes at a cost.”
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What cuts did the Chancellor announce?
Ms Reeves admitted she had to make “difficult decisions” on Monday, including stopping winter heating payments for some pensioners to save £1.5bn a year.
He warned: “There are more difficult decisions ahead. I am not singling out any particular group.
“There will be more difficult decisions in the fall, but it was important to take this decision yesterday to put our public finances on a more solid footing and get control of public spending,” he added.