'We've got Truss PTSD, our £32bn borrowing is different' - minister - video Dailymotion

Evening Standard

Rachel Reeves’ deputy sought to reassure the markets that Labour’s £32 billion borrowing in the Budget was not excessive, stressing: “We have all got PTSD from Liz Truss”.Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, emphasised that on borrowing the Government does not “think that we are pushing it to the limit”.

Transcript

00:00Well, look, as I say, the markets will always

00:01respond to a budget.

00:02And there's been a change in an approach to the economy here.

00:06Under the Conservatives, you had 14 years of cuts

00:08to investment on public investment,

00:10as well as cuts to private sector investment

00:12for a whole host of other reasons.

00:14This budget chose to invest in our country,

00:15as opposed to continue down the path of decline.

00:18And markets respond to that, because that

00:20means that we will be borrowing money

00:22to pay for things like schools and hospitals and transport

00:25infrastructure.

00:26But importantly, because of that tough investment rule,

00:28making sure that investment as a size of the economy

00:31is managed and is under control and falls

00:33as a size of the economy over the years ahead.

00:35Again, come back to it one more time.

00:38Are you watching it closely?

00:39If it continues to rise, if it did get more disorderly,

00:43would that be a very clear sign that the markets are telling

00:46you, in fact, this borrowing is a little bit too much?

00:49I think we've all got PTSD from Liz Truss.

00:52And just let's compare the two different scenarios,

00:54because they're very, very different.

00:56So under Liz Truss, as we saw, they

00:58sacked the Permanent Secretary, they

01:00ignored the Independent Office of Budget Responsibility,

01:03they announced £45 billion of unfunded tax cuts

01:05and said they're only just getting started.

01:07And then the market went mad.

01:08And we all know what happened then.

01:10Completely different in contrast to now.

01:12We've got verified reports from the Independent Office

01:14for Budget Responsibility that say

01:16we meet our fiscal rules earlier than had been planned

01:18originally, 2027, 2028.

01:21Those tough fiscal rules means there

01:22is a fiscal consolidation and a strong approach

01:25to public spending.

01:26We're in a very, very different world.

01:28But I understand why you asked the question,

01:30because everybody suffered as a consequence of the way

01:32the Conservatives managed the economy.

01:34I agree.

01:34In 2022, it was disorderly.

01:37This has been orderly, but it's nonetheless

01:39pushing up borrowing costs.

'We've got Truss PTSD, our £32bn borrowing is different' - minister

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