Jeremy Hunt last night called for Britain’s economic watchdog to prevent Labour ‘fiddling the fiscal rules’.
The former chancellor will table a Commons amendment today which would require the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to assess the impact of any move by Rachel Reeves to change the fiscal rules covering government spending and borrowing.
Ms Reeves has adopted similar rules to the previous Tory government, including measures that require the national debt to be falling as a share of income in five years’ time.
But in recent weeks she has ducked question about whether she will change the definition used for debt – a move which could allow her to borrow billions more.
Mr Hunt, the Shadow Chancellor, said: ‘If Labour fails to back this amendment it will confirm that the Chancellor is planning to fiddle the fiscal rules leading to a massive increase in borrowing and debt with hard working taxpayers left to pick up the tab.
‘As with their plans to raise taxes, these are changes they planned right from the beginning, but simply did not have the courage to tell the British public about during the election.’
Ms Reeves will today bring forward the Budget Responsibility Bill, which will require the government to get an OBR assessment of any tax package totalling more than one per cent of GDP.
The Chancellor said it was needed to prevent a repeat of Liz Truss’s infamous mini-Budget in 2022, which spooked the markets by pushing through £50 billion of tax cuts without an OBR assessment of whether they could be afforded.
But Mr Hunt said changing the fiscal rules could have a similar impact on borrowing – and should be subject to a similar assessment.
He told the Mail: ‘If you’re going to claim the mantle of responsibility, surely that applies to changes to fiscal rules, which would allow you to increase borrowing massively.
‘They have already picked the pockets of pensioners completely against their manifesto commitment by withdrawing the winter fuel payment.
‘But if they were to pay for the public sector, pay awards by increasing borrowing by £10 billion a year, which is what many people think they would do, they would also be picking the pockets of the young, because it would be the young who would have to pay the price in higher interest payments, higher debt repayments. for generations ahead.
‘That just goes to prove the age old adage that there are no winners under a Labour government, old, young, rich, poor, middle class, working class, everyone ends up paying more.
‘And it would be the most cynical thing, because it would be a sign of tax on future generations.’