UK finance chief says public finances show $28 billion spending hole, cuts road and rail projects

Britain’s Finance Minister Rachel Reeves on Monday announced a raft of project cuts after detailing how the newly elected Labour government has inherited a projected overspend of £22 billion ($28.2 billion) from the center-right Conservatives.

In a highly anticipated statement to the House of Commons, Reeves pledged to make the “necessary”, “urgent” and “incredibly tough” choices to restore the country’s economic stability.

The finance minister said the center-left government would cancel the Restoring Your Railways Fund program, scrap plans to build a tunnel at Stonehenge and review a hospital expansion program announced by former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Reeves said she would cancel universal winter fuel payments for pensioners in a further attempt to save money.

“If we cannot afford it, we cannot do it,” Reeves said, adding that the investment cuts would not be enough to cover the shortfall. She warned “difficult decisions” were still to come on spending, welfare and tax.

The finance minister also said she had canceled plans to sell NatWest shares to the public, saying the proposal put forward by her predecessor Jeremy Hunt did not “represent value for money.”

Reeves said she plans to hold her first annual budget on Oct. 30. in what will be the first major fiscal event of the new government.

Britain’s finance chief has previously ruled out increases to income tax, national insurance, VAT or corporation tax — the main sources of government revenues. However, Reeves must orchestrate a delicate balance act given the pledges from her party to also boost national investment and public sector pay.

“Today, she will fool absolutely no one with a shameless attempt to lay the ground for tax rises,” shadow finance minister Jeremy Hunt said in response to Reeves’ remarks.

Hunt also criticized the finance minister for saying the situation regarding the public finances was new information to the government.

Reeves has been in post since the center-left Labour Party secured a huge parliamentary majority in the country’s general election earlier this month. Her comments were seen as likely to set the tone for the rest of her time as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Speaking to CNBC on Friday, Reeves said the Labour government was going to be “the most pro-growth, pro-business” government the country has ever seen.

— CNBC’s Karen Gilchrist contributed to this report.