Rachel Reeves was branded the “spend now, tax later” Chancellor after she announced billions of pounds of new spending on public services and infrastructure projects.
The Chancellor unveiled her eagerly awaited spending review in the House of Commons and committed to big funding increases for the NHS and defence.
But she did not set out how she would pay for the commitments, raising the prospect of more tax rises at the autumn Budget.
Sir Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, said the spending review was “not worth the paper that it is written on because the Chancellor has completely lost control”.
The senior Tory said: “This is the spend now, tax later review because the Chancellor knows that she will need to come back here in the autumn with yet more taxes and a cruel summer of speculation awaits.”
Ms Reeves said her spending plans would “deliver the priorities of the British people”.
She announced the NHS will receive an extra £29 billion a year to ensure the health service is “there whenever we need it”.
She told the Commons: “An extra £29bn per year for the day-to-day running of the health service. That is what the British people voted for and that is what we will deliver. More appointments. More doctors. More scanners. The National Health Service: Created by a Labour government. Protected by a Labour government. And renewed, by this Labour Government.”
Meanwhile, the Chancellor promised to increase the core schools budget by more than £4.5 billion a year and confirmed defence spending will rise to 2.6 per cent of GDP by 2027, which included an uplift for the intelligence services.
Reeves tells MPs to ‘sell’ difference Labour is making
Rachel Reeves has told Labour MPs to “sell” the difference the Government is making to the country.
Speaking to the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), she said: “People are only going to know the good news that we set out today if we campaign on it, if we deliver the leaflets, if we speak to people on the doorstep, if we write those pieces for our local papers, that is how people are going to know that it is Labour making these differences.
“It’s not despite having this Labour government. It’s because of this Labour government that more kids are going to get free school meals.
“It’s because of this Labour government that we’ve got already 200,000 off of the waiting list. It’s because of this Labour government that is going to be local community policing in their neighborhood. It is because of this Labour government that we are going to have spades in the ground, building the tram links, the bus stations, the train stations.
“That is the difference that we’re making. Now we’ve now got to get out and sell it.”
Emily Thornberry attacks ‘alarming’ Foreign Office cuts
Dame Emily Thornberry has said cuts to the Foreign Office in the spending review are “alarming”.
The former Labour shadow minister and chairman of the foreign affairs select committee said: “At a time when Britain is back on the world stage, and has never been more needed as a force for good, it is very concerning that the FCDO appears to be suffering the harshest real-terms cuts.
“We will be looking very closely at this to make sure that, once the already-announced ODA cuts have been accounted for, the Foreign Office is not suffering major further cutbacks.
“The Foreign Office maintains a presence across the globe and does so with a budget that has been stretched thin over many years. I am deeply concerned about the strain that this spending review will place on the entirety of the department.
“Real-term cuts to the Foreign Office budget are alarming and inconsistent with the government’s objective to position the UK as a leader on the world stage.”
