Labour civil war as Rachel Reeves battles cabinet members over UK's £100bn black hole
Labour cabinet members are up in arms over the Chancellor's warning that this year's £22bn black hole will be recurring for the next five years.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is reportedly having to face down cabinet members who are demanding she loosen the public purse strings and make greater spending commitments in her upcoming budget.
However, at a meeting of cabinet, she reportedly told ministers that this year's £22bn financial blackhole would be recurring over the next five years - meaning there is actually a £100bn chasm in the UK's public finances.
So, despite the pain that is expected to be inflicted by the slashing of the winter fuel allowance, there could well be more hardship to come as the Chancellor opts for fiscal conservatism.
“The chancellor highlighted the £22bn black hole inheritance from the previous government that needed to be filled just to keep public services standing still,” a Labour spokesperson said.
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The spokesperson added: "She said that the scale of inheritance meant there would have to be difficult decisions on spending, welfare, and tax – and that the long-term priority had to be unlocking private sector investment to drive economic growth.
"The chancellor told cabinet the budget would focus on putting the public finances on a strong footing and being honest with the British people about the scale of the challenge."
The giant shortfall, which the Chancellor announced in the summer, is according the Guardian's Tresury sources a conservative estimate of the amount of money needed to facilitate public sector pay commitments, support for Ukraine and the asylum system.
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A source told the publication: "Ministers do kind of know that we’ll need to fix the black hole every year, but because they see these things through the lens of their own departments, it feels they haven’t really clocked that the scale of the challenge at the budget is so much worse than we expected."
In the run-up to the budget, the Chancellor's first landmark act since taking the reins at Number 11, she is expected to say her tough measures are aimed at "fixing the foundations" of the economy.
Ms Reeves is expected to re-establish a Brownite fiscal rule, that there will be no borrowing for day-to-day spending. Rebranding it her “golden rule”, to try and win back confidence in the markets.
