Rachel Reeves is spinning false claims about financial blackhole

We Conservatives know all too well what is required to responsibly manage our public finances, and as a former Treasury Minister, I recognise that the difficult decisions a Chancellor is required to take in their role.

However, what the role of Chancellor does not involve is inventing a supposed blackhole in the public finances and then doubling down when the public rightfully don’t buy their blatant fabrications.

And yet this new Chancellor still seems dead set on doing just that.

Rachel Reeves’ first instinct when she took office was not to do the hard yards required to manage spending pressures and deliver fiscally, but instead to come to parliament armed with a bogus claim that has now been thoroughly discredited.

And instead of coming clean with the country, it seems that this government is once again seemingly trying to spin this yarn.

The irony is not lost on us reading the reports that the Treasury is now apparently claiming this blackhole has doubled in size in just 100 days, and nor should it be lost on Express readers.

After all, this supposed blackhole is fundamentally a product of Labour’s own decisions, decisions they are refusing to take ownership for.

During the election, we publicly called out Labour’s planned profligacy.

We warned that that many unfunded spending commitments would run into the tens of billions of pounds.

We made clear that it would be the public that would have to pay the price for this.

So once again we are seeing Labour talk up a blackhole but like all of their claims that have come before, it is bogus.

The public should not swallow any of this latest nonsense, and see it instead for what it truly is – another poor attempt to justify the budget they have been planning all along that will be deeply damaging for growth, for investment, for our economy and for the public’s purses.