UK finance minister Reeves vows no austerity despite tight budget

Finance minister Rachel Reeves will pledge on Monday that Britain will not return to “austerity” or widespread spending cuts in a budget aimed at shoring up the economy’s foundations, despite previous warnings.

In his first budget on October 30 after Labor won the general election in July, Reeves said taxes were likely to rise due to a £22 billion ($29 billion) shortfall in public finances.

She also announced that millions of pensioners would no longer receive winter fuel subsidies, a decision the government said it did not want to take but was criticized by unions and other traditional Labor supporters.

Reeves will reiterate in her keynote speech on Monday at the Labor Party conference in the northern English city of Liverpool that she will take the necessary decisions to achieve stability, which she said is “where businesses invest with confidence and households make decisions” The basic premise of the plan.” future”.

According to excerpts of her speech, Reeves will say: “Austerity is not coming back. Conservative austerity is a damaging choice for our public services and for investment and growth.”

“We have to deal with the Conservative Party’s legacy and that means hard decisions. But we will not let this undermine our ambition for the UK.”

Criticisms of Reeves and Prime Minister Keir Starmer taking an overly pessimistic view, combined with anger over donations, have cast a pall over Labor’s celebrations of their first election victory in 14 years and she will hint beyond A brighter future for the difficult circumstances she inherited.

“If we make the right choices now, I can see the rewards for us. Stability is a key foundation for achieving all our ambitions,” she said.

Reeves will also reiterate Labour’s manifesto pledge not to increase income tax, National Security Social Security, VAT and corporation tax.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the source.