Conservatives ‘deliberately concealed’ true state of public finances, minister says | Public Finances

The last Conservative government “deliberately concealed” the true state of the public finances, a cabinet minister has said, as the chancellor prepares to detail a “£20 billion black hole” in the public finances.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed said his cabinet colleagues had “always known” the Tory legacy was “going to be bad”, but since coming to power they had found “additional pressures” that had not been disclosed by the Conservatives.

Reed cited as examples the prison overcrowding crisis and the amount spent on the asylum programme in Rwanda, revealed by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper as £700m.

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Reed said: “We’re in our offices now and we’ve seen what’s really happening, and it’s catastrophic. It’s worse. [than expected].

“There were things we couldn’t have known during the election campaign because the Conservatives not only failed to disclose information, but in some cases they deliberately concealed it.”

He questioned whether Conservative MPs were “involved in this cover-up” or whether they were unaware, and therefore “should be grateful that Rachel Reeves is now exposing the true extent of this catastrophic legacy of the previous Conservative government”.

Reeves is expected to present the findings of a Treasury audit on Monday and will also announce the date of the spending and budget review in October.

Experts expect her to be forced to announce tax changes in the budget, with options including capital gains or inheritance taxes and cutting other tax breaks. The chancellor has ruled out changes to income tax, VAT, national insurance contributions and corporation tax, which are the biggest sources of revenue.

Reeves is also expected to announce the postponement of a series of infrastructure projects aimed at plugging the public finances black hole, including new roads and rail lines promised by the last government and plans to build 40 new hospitals, announced by Boris Johnson.

The shadow treasurer defended the Tories’ handling of public services while in government and accused Labour of “breaking every promise” during its general election campaign.

Asked on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips whether he was bothered by the “black hole” in the public finances, John Glen said: “I’m not bothered at all. Government is about making tough choices within a balanced set of priorities.”

“What we were trying to do was prioritise tax cuts for working people as much as possible while maintaining investment in the NHS, long-term workforce reform plans in the NHS for the first time in its history, and continuing to invest in education and public services.

“What we also said during the election campaign is that we have campaigned very rigorously to get more efficiency in our reform of public service welfare, to reduce the number of civil servants, because this is a historic level, and to reform public services, and this is the area on which this government seems to have very, very little discourse.

“What they are saying is: ‘tell us the maximum amount you want to spend and we will raise taxes for you,’ something they explicitly ruled out 50 times during the election campaign.”

Cabinet Office chief Pat McFadden said he was shocked to learn the “full picture” of the state of public services after cabinet ministers sent him an analysis of their departments and budgets shortly after the election.

In an editorial for the Sunday Telegraph, he said: “The public system is collapsing, with some children being educated in schools that urgently need repair. Our overcrowded prisons are in crisis – a problem the previous government knew about but ran away from. The costs of the immigration system have soared, with £700m spent on the Rwanda programme to send just four volunteers to that country.”

“Unlike the opposition, we will be straight with the British public. We were elected to deliver real change to our country, but we can’t do it overnight.”