Chancellor Rachel Reeves is today expected to announce plans to cancel flagship road tunnel projects and pause the already delayed hospital building programme in an attempt to plug a £20bn black hole in public finances.
Exact details of which projects are to be axed will be revealed later today but the multi-billion pound Stonehenge Tunnel and Lower Thames Crossing are rumoured to be in her sights.
There is also speculation that Boris Johnson’s already delayed 40 new hospital programme and the HS2 tunnel extension to the Euston Terminus from Old Oak Common could also be further delayed.
Reeves will this afternoon at 3pm vow to fix the foundations of the UK 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 also 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.
