Minister: Chancellor 'consistent and upfront with the public

ODN

Chief Secretary to the Treasury, James Murray, says that Chancellor Rachel Reeves "has been consistent and upfront with the public" about the decisions that she had to make in her preparations for the Budget that she delivered last week. Report by Ketchs. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

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00:00The Chancellor has been consistent and upfront with the public about her considerations in the

00:04lead-up to the budget last week. First, the Chancellor was clear on her priorities at the

00:11budget, which was to cut NHS waiting lists, to cut the cost of living, and to cut our debt and

00:16borrowing. The budget that she delivered last week delivered on those priorities. Secondly,

00:23the Chancellor was clear on November 4th that a lower productivity forecast would mean lower

00:28tax receipts. The OBR confirmed at the budget that tax receipts are £16 billion lower as

00:34a result of their reduced productivity forecast. Third, the Chancellor was clear on November

00:404th that she intended to build more headroom. She has done that, with a headroom against

00:45the stability rule at £21.7 billion. Fourth, the Chancellor was clear in the summer that

00:53the policy decisions we took on welfare would need to be paid for at the budget, and the

00:56budget document shows those decisions cost £6.9 billion in 29-30. And finally, the OBR

01:03have now confirmed that the Chancellor knew on 4th of November that she only had £4.2 billion

01:08of headroom against the fiscal rules, meaning that once the cost of those policy decisions

01:12was accounted for, there would be a deficit of £2.7 billion against the stability rule.

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