Reeves urges MPs to ‘put country first’ to block repeat of Liz Truss mini-Budget
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Rachel Reeves will tomorrow [14 November] urge MPs to put ‘country
and family finances first’ by backing Labour plans to block a
repeat of Liz Truss disastrous mini-budget. Labour will force a
binding vote on an amendment to the King’s Speech debate about the
opposition’s proposals to introduce a ‘new fiscal lock’ and
strengthen the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Unlike other
votes in the Commons, the Government cannot abstain. The vote comes
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Rachel Reeves will tomorrow [14 November] urge MPs to put ‘country and family finances first’ by backing Labour plans to block a repeat of Liz Truss disastrous mini-budget. Labour will force a binding vote on an amendment to the King’s Speech debate about the opposition’s proposals to introduce a ‘new fiscal lock’ and strengthen the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Unlike other votes in the Commons, the Government cannot abstain. The vote comes as new analysis released by the party reveals that the former prime minister Liz Truss has called for £46 billion of unfunded tax cuts – the same scale of reckless borrowing that crashed the economy last year. Under Labour’s proposals, legislation would be introduced to strengthen the UK’s economy to help protect national and family incomes. This would include:
The changes would bring about “a new fiscal lock” to strengthen the UK’s financial stability. The Institute for Government has previously said the changes would “improve how fiscal policy is made… and ensure [the mini-budget] could not happen again.” Speaking ahead of the debate, Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, said: “It’s more than a year since Liz Truss crashed the economy and left working people worse off, with higher prices in the shops and soaring mortgage bills. However, Rishi Sunak has been too weak to stand up to those in the Conservative Party that want a re-run of those disastrous policies. “As Chancellor, my mission will be to bring stability back to our economy because that is the only way we can bring growth back. That means introducing a new fiscal lock to prevent the turmoil we witnessed last year. “I urge MPs to put country and family finances first – and reject the reckless policies of Liz Truss.” Ends Notes to editors: Draft amendment Labour will table to the King’s Speech: At end add ‘but respectfully regret that the Gracious Speech fails to include legislative proposals to prevent a repeat of the economic fallout from the September 2023 Growth Plan, by amending the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011 to give the Office for Budget Responsibility the power to produce and publish forecasts for any Government fiscal event which includes tax and spending decisions with long-term effects over a threshold to be specified in a new Charter of Budget Responsibility.’ A swathe of experts have backed Labour’s proposals to strengthen the Office for Budget Responsibility, including:
Liz Truss has called on the Government to:
Taken together, the total cost of tax cuts being proposed by Liz Truss is £46 billion. The total cost of tax measures in the mini budget was £45 billion: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-growth-plan-2022-documents/the-growth-plan-2022-html |