Source from BBC
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Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said “strong investment in public services” will be at the heart of his plans for rebuilding the economy when he sets out his Budget next week.
Speaking on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show, he said he would drive growth by spending on infrastructure, innovation and skills.
But he said he did not have a “magic wand” to make rising costs disappear.
Labour wants VAT on energy bills to be cut to zero to help families.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, who was speaking on the same show, said many households were facing a “tough winter”, and were worried about putting food on the table and heating their homes because prices were going up “on everything”.
Mr Sunak will set out his Budget on Wednesday, amid concern among some in his own party too that rising energy prices, inflation and tax hikes are causing a cost of living crisis in the UK.
‘Elected to deliver’
Speaking to the BBC, the chancellor said his previous budgets had been about taking action to protect incomes and jobs, but it was now time to look to the future and reshape the economy.
He said: “One of the elements of building a stronger economy is having strong public services, and you will see that next week – whether it’s the NHS, which we’ve already taken steps to support significantly to recover from coronavirus – children, schools, skills, all of these things, policing and crime.
“You will see investment across the board in public services because that’s what we were elected to deliver and that’s what we are getting on and doing.”
Asked if he would raise public sector wages in line with inflation, the chancellor said “that will be one of the things we talk about”.
“Over the past year, we took a decision to have a more targeted approach to public sector pay,” he continued, but “going forward we’ll have to set a new pay policy and that’ll be a topic for next week’s spending review”.
He said there was “no magic wand” to make the factors contributing to high inflation disappear – such as pressure on global supply chains as economies have reopened after Covid, and soaring energy prices.
And while his “instincts” were to cut tax, Mr Sunak said he was having to grapple with “an economic shock – the biggest in three hundred years.”
