Reeves and Hunt in fiery clash over public finance black hole: ‘How dare they?’

Reeves and Hunt in fiery clash over public finance black holeReuters

Transcript

00:00They had exhausted the Reserve, and they knew that, but nobody else did.

00:04Yet they ducked the difficult decisions, they put party before country, and they continued

00:14to make unfunded commitment after unfunded commitment, knowing that the money was not

00:19there, resulting in the position that we have now inherited.

00:24The Reserve spent more than three times over, only three months into the financial year,

00:31and they told no-one.

00:32Mr Speaker, the scale of this overspend is not sustainable, not to act is simply not

00:37an option.

00:38We have already seen official ONS figures this month, showing that borrowing is higher

00:43this year than the OBR expected.

00:46And the disaster of Listrust's mini-budget shows what happens if you don't take tough

00:51decisions to maintain economic stability.

00:54Some, including the Leader of the Opposition and the Shadow Chancellor, have claimed the

00:58books were open.

01:00How dare they?

01:01It is not true.

01:02And let me tell you why.

01:10There are very clear instances of specific budgets that were overspent, and unfunded

01:15promises that were made, but that, crucially, the OBR was not aware of for their March forecast.