Liz Truss has promised she “absolutely” will not cut public spending - one day after experts calculated the government would need to find £60bn in savings.
Speaking during PMQs on Wednesday, the prime minister was asked if she would stick to a pledge made during the Tory leadership campaign.
In July, Truss said: “I’m very clear I’m not planning public spending reductions.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer asked Truss today: “Is she going to stick to that?”
Truss said: “Absolutely.
“What we will make sure is that over the medium-term the debt is falling. We will do that, not by cutting public spending, but by making sure we spend public money well.”
On October 31 Kwasi Kwarteng will announce his so-called medium-term fiscal plan. It will detail how he plans to keep his pledge to reduce debt.
The highly-respected Institute for Fiscal Studies said the chancellor will need to find £60bn in savings to balance the books if he sticks to the tax cuts announced in his mini-Budget.
“With a weaker economy, getting government finances on a sustainable path without cancelling tax cuts could force chancellor into big and painful spending cuts,” the IFS said on Tuesday.
Earlier on Wednesday, Torsten Bell, of the Resolution Foundation think-tank, told MPs Kwarteng would have to U-turn on more of the mini-Budget package.
“I don’t think there is a credible, plausible package that’s going to work now on the 31st that doesn’t involve U-turning,” he said. “Markets are going to need to see the government saying ‘I’ve changed course’.”