Pictures of Jeremy Hunt getting schooled in the House of Commons have become a viral meme after the former chancellor was called out for making reckless spending commitments in office.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves put the UK on notice about future tax rises as she accused the Tories of leaving an “unforgivable” £22 billion black hole in the public finances.
She cancelled or postponed road and hospital building projects, restricted winter fuel payments to just the poorest pensioners and warned that “difficult decisions” on tax would be required in her first budget on October 30.
The Chancellor accused her Conservative predecessors of covering up the scale of immediate spending pressures on the public purse, leading Hunt to react with a scorned expression.
The squeeze on spending is aimed at finding £5.5 billion of savings this year and £8.1 billion next year.
But predecessor Jeremy Hunt claimed around half of the “black hole” in spending was due to her deciding to give above-inflation pay rises to millions of public sector workers.
In a hint that taxes may have to increase, Ms Reeves said: “I have to tell the House that the budget will involve taking difficult decisions to meet our fiscal rules across spending, welfare and tax.”
She said it will be “a budget to fix the foundations of our economy and it will be a budget built on the principles that this new Government was elected on”.
Related: OBR raises concerns over ‘transparency and credibility’ of Conservative’s spending plans