The Prime Minister Keir Starmer has insisted Rachel Reeves did not mislead the public or ministers before her Budget last week
He described the budget as a moment of personal pride in a speech at a community centre in London this morning
He said that the OBR productivity downgrade left the Government with a”starting point” of £16bn less than it might otherwise have had -adding that it had already made public spending commitments and wanted to double headroom.
“It was inevitable that we would always have to raise revenue. So there’s no misleading there,” he says adding
“There was a point at which we thought – myself included – that we might have to reach for a manifesto breach of some significance…
“As the process then continued, it became clear to me and others that we might be able to do what we needed to do with our priorities without that manifesto breach.”
Starmer said that the country needed to get closer to the EU in the coming years
“It is clear from all of the analysis that the deal that we’ve got has hurt our economy. That’s why we’ve rebuilt relations and reset relations with the EU and I’m proud that we’ve done that. That is why we’re moving forward.” he said
He said that he was confident that UK has “walked through narrowest part of the tunnel” on cost of living – and that “bit by bit” people will see a country that shrugs off sense that things can never be better.
However he conceded in the speech that more big challenges lie ahead: “I will level with you. As the budget showed the path to a Britain that is truly built for all requires many more decisions that are not cost free, and they’re not easy.”
