Treasury expected to uncover £20bn hole in public finances, Sky News understands

A Treasury audit is expected to reveal a £20bn black hole in public spending, Sky News understands.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is due to give a speech on Monday when she will reveal the state of the UK's public finances and potentially prepare the ground for tax rises in the autumn.

Sky's Paul Kelso analyses the scale of the financial problems faced by Sir Keir Starmer's newly-elected Labour government, and asks what options are available to the chancellor to plug the spending gap.

#Finances #Politics #UK

[boota]

I don't think this is a surprise to anyone, with a functioning brain.

[jabbadabbajew]

Just to help people understand. This is never meant to be fixed. The Bankers control the money supply, they decide if we can have more money in the system. Governments job is to take our money through tax and give it to the bankers by paying off a debt that will never go down and pay it forever.

[ParaquatSC]

It's not "blaming" the last government as if it's just ducking responsibility.. it very literally can only be the fault of the previous Conservative train of chancellors and prime ministers. It's holding them accountable. Blame is just your feeling of someone's wrongdoing. This is documented and verifiable with hard concrete evidence.

[Afterthoughtbtw]

Saying that she's going to blame the last government is slightly misleading, as it suggests that it is political manoeuvring. I'd prefer the phraseology 'pointing out the indisputable fact that it is the previous government's fault'. It just is a little more representative of the facts that the word 'blame'.

[hannacook]

Income tax is already crippling, especially when we get nothing for it.

[ftftyffghfvghfcht]

not really 'uncovered' if it was explicitly mentioned by moderators and the SNP politician multiple times during televised debates.

[hughjohns]

I’m calling bs here, that gap between private and public sector is nowhere near 5%. However if she is going to close that gap I hope she also gives private sector workers the same holidays and pensions as the public sector have.

[mattyn]

Heres an idea we tax anyone with wealth over 10 million

[dudeatx]

No matter the tax rates and types no UK government has never managed to raise more than about 38.5% of GDP in taxes. We're already at that and that's with the highest post-war taxation. So do your worst.

[davidfoster]

The public sector pension liabilities are 2.6 trillion pounds this has crippled the U.K. economy for years.

[Kaizen]

The problem with Labour being surprised how bad the Tories left things is that this was becoming abundantly clear to everyone and now we are expected to believe that the party is opposition was naively optimistic this wasnt the case.

[jeffholt]

"Uncovered" - Are Labour saying it's fraud?

[flemlion]

So Sky admits they knew the tories were lying and fudging the numbers

[splottcardiff]

Inheriting, blaming, lifting the carpet, heard them all now - it’s getting boring now. Just get on with your job and govern!! The public sector literally cannot be cut anymore it’s been underfunded for years, look at the state of our community. Immediately tighten up on immigration and stretching tax payers money even further for a start 😩

[godlikemonolith]

The media are as economically illiterate as both major parties. Ffs. 🤦🏽‍♂️

[Kevin-lfxx]

Everybody can see the UK is in a dire financial position.

[jsimo]

what about all the previous years public pay higher than private and the pensions

[JMD-erjq]

yes, send every tory minister to prison and fine them, then go after their buddies who got backhanders during the pandemic

[Jamal-Ahmed]

How come the media wasn't scrutinising George Osborne when he put up VAT before the 2010 election campaign he said he wouldn't put up VAT

[_Too_Late]

Debt to GDP 2001 28.1%
Debt to GDP 2008 50.6%
Debt to GDP 2015 81.3%
Debt to GDP 2022 95.7%

But immigration enriches European economies, right?