Rishi Sunak to go on last spending splurge before tax rises and pay freezes to come next year

RISHI Sunak will today go on a last spending splurge to get the nation through the worst of the coronavirus crisis – before tax rises and pay freezes may come next year.

The Chancellor will spell out the details of his one-year spending review today, allocating cash to departments to get them through the winter – but it will come with a gloomy set of economic forecasts.


Rishi Sunak to go on last spending splurge before tax rises and pay freezes to come next year
Chancellor Rishi Sunak will reveal his spending review today
Rishi Sunak to go on last spending splurge before tax rises and pay freezes to come next year
The Chancellor will spell out spending for the next year – and economic warnings are expected to be ‘sobering’

The Chancellor said this morning: “Individuals, families and communities must become stronger, healthier and happier as a result of this Spending Review.

“That is the true measure of our success.”

Yet, dire financial warnings are expected to say Britain faces years of disruption as a result of the coronavirus crisis – and it will take years to pay back the billions of pounds borrowed this year.


Latest borrowing figures from the OBR and ONS
Latest borrowing figures from the OBR and ONS

He told Cabinet this morning that “the forecasts will show the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on our economy will make for a sobering read, showing the extent to which the economy has contracted and the scale of borrowing and debt levels.”

He is due to present Parliament with updated economic predictions from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which is due to show government borrowing will be close to a whopping £400 billion this year.

The official figures are due to show public spending jumping above 50 per cent of GDP – the highest ration since World War II, with national debt at an eye-watering 60-year high.

Mr Sunak will promise to protect people’s lives and livelihoods with the “support they need to get through Covid”.

Last month, he extended the furlough scheme to last through until March as Boris Johnson warned the UK faced a “hard winter” of further coronavirus restrictions.

And he will stick to promises to fund public services with more cash for schools, hospitals and the police.

But in a glimmer of hope the OBR forecasts now show Britain is on course to defy previous gloomy predictions with a historic V-shaped recovery by recording the fastest GDP growth since 1941.

That will come after the economy shrunk an estimated 10 per cent this year in the deepest recession in 300 years.

But as it’s not a Budget or an Autumn Statement, today’s event won’t contain huge tax tweaks or other major fiscal changes.

BACK TO WORK

He will reveal a three-year programme — the Restart Scheme — to try to assist more than a million long-term unemployed.

The concept is to give those who have been out of work for 12 months-plus regular intensive support to suit their circumstances.

But the Treasury estimates the scheme could be successful for only around 300,000, though they claim this will make it worthwhile.

That is just 70,000 more than would find work without the extra support, costing taxpayers around £42,000 for each job found.

A similar scheme launched by the 2010 Coalition Government stimulated £3.21 of extra economic activity for every £1 spent in four years.

There will be a further £1.4billion of funding for Job Centre Plus.


Rishi Sunak to go on last spending splurge before tax rises and pay freezes to come next year
The chancellor putting the final touches on the spending review last night

Mr Sunak has repeatedly stressed the Treasury will need to find ways to bring back the long-term health of public finances.

But both the PM and the Chancellor have dismissed suggestions it will signal a return to austerity with huge spending cuts.

The alternative means big tax rises are expected, but they won’t come until Britain is through the worst of the pandemic.

In his spending review, Mr Sunak is expected to lay out a raft of cost-cutting measures including freezing public sector pay and cutting the foreign aid target from 0.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent.

The combination of the two measures could save almost £10billion but both face fierce criticism.