Chancellor of the Exchequer will this afternoon
(Monday 29 July, after 3:30pm) vow to ‘fix the foundations of our
economy' as she publishes an audit of the spending inheritance
left by the previous administration.
Accusing the previous government of ‘covering up the true
state of the public finances,' the Chancellor will announce
immediate action to restore economic stability and deliver
departmental savings this financial year.
The announcements will be a response to the findings of the
Treasury's spending audit, which shows that the previous
government overspent this year's budgets by billions of pounds
after making a series of unfunded promises.
The Chancellor will confirm that she has commissioned an Office
for Budget Responsibility forecast to coincide with a Budget and
Spending Review to be held later this year.
The Budget will set out how the government's robust fiscal rules
will be met: balancing the current budget so that day-to-day
costs are met by revenues and getting debt falling as a share of
the economy by the fifth year of the forecast.
Speaking in the House of Commons later today, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer is expected to
say:
"Before the election, I said we would face the worst inheritance
since the Second World War.
“Taxes at a seventy year high. Debt through the roof. An economy
only just coming out of recession. I knew all those things. I was
honest about them during the election campaign. And the difficult
choices it meant.
“But upon my arrival at the Treasury three weeks ago, it became
clear that there were things I did not know. Things that the
party opposite covered up from the country.”
She will add:
“It is time to level with the public and tell them the truth.
“The previous government refused to take the difficult decisions.
They covered up the true state of the public finances. And then
they ran away. I will never do that.
“The British people voted for change and we will deliver that
change. I will restore economic stability. I will never stand by
and let this happen again.
“We will fix the foundations of our economy, so we can rebuild
Britain and make every part of our country better off.”
The Chancellor will announce she is committing the government to
one major fiscal event per year to put an end to ‘surprise
budgets' which have previously caused uncertainty for both the
markets and family finances across the country.
A new Office of Value for Money will be established, using
pre-existing civil service resource, to put an end to wasteful
spending in government, providing targeted scrutiny of public
spending so that value for money governs every decision
government makes.
The Office will immediately begin work on identifying and
recommending savings for the current financial year, while also
establishing where targeted reforms of the system can ensure that
poor value for money spending is cut off before it begins.
Reforms bearing down on waste in the public sector will also be
announced today, driving efficiency through government
departments and arms length bodies (ALBs). Immediate action will
be taken to stop non-essential spending on consultants, alongside
disposing of surplus estates and hastening delivering admin
efficiencies in departments.
Earlier this month, the Government introduced the Budget
Responsibility Bill at the King's Speech to deliver economic
stability by guaranteeing that never again can a government play
fast and loose with the public finances.
The Bill ensures all significant fiscal announcements on tax or
spending which are worth more than 1% of the UK's GDP will be
subject to scrutiny by the independent Office for Budget
Responsibility. This will guard against large-scale unfunded
commitments in the future.
