John Healey has suggested the government could scrap defence projects as part of its efforts to repair the public finances.
The defence secretary said “tough choices” will be made across Whitehall on spending, adding that the Ministry of Defence will “do our part” as the government undertakes to balance the books.
Since entering government, Labour and prime minister Keir Starmer have repeatedly accused the Conservatives of leaving behind a £22 billion black hole in the public finances.
Speaking last week, in his first major speech from No 10 since becoming PM, Starmer warned the upcoming budget on 30th October will be “painful”.
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The prime minister said last Tuesday it would take years to clean up after the previous Conservative governments, which he insisted had overseen “14 years of rot”.
In the wake of this speech, Healey was asked if defence projects could be cancelled under the government’s fiscal plans, to be unveiled at the end of October.
The defence secretary responded that “across government we are now all dealing with public finances this year that are far worse than we or anyone else thought before the election.”
He told the BBC: “This is probably the worst inheritance of any government in living memory, so that is why both the prime minister and the chancellor have talked about tough choices, choices that we would not want to make or have expected to make”.
Pressed again on whether that would include cuts at the Ministry of Defence, he said: “Including on defence, that we will make because we have to get a grip on the public finances, we have to see growth back in the economy and that is the way that we can rebuild both the wealth of this country as well as the public services.”
He added: “We will do our part to help this government deal with the deficit this year and the dreadful state of the public finances that we have inherited.”
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