Politics latest: Jeremy Hunt hits back at Rachel Reeves after she brands him a 'liar' (2024)

Yvette Cooper will make a statement in the House of Commons this afternoon on the stabbings in Southport yesterday in which two children were killed and nine others injured.

The home secretary is in Southport this morning and is meeting with the chief constable, police and crime commissioner and mayor, followed by a cup of tea with some of the first responders who attended the scene yesterday.

She will then lay flowers on Hart Street, where the attack took place, and then attend a community event with the local MP, Patrick Hurley.

After meeting with Home Office colleagues at the Southport campus, she will return to London to address MPs in parliament.

We've just been hearing from our political correspondent Mhari Auroraon the very personal spat between Rachel Reeves and Jeremy Hunt after she told Sky News he "lied".

The shadow chancellor, she explained, was "trying to basically say that this kind of unparliamentary language discredits and debases politics".

"I think the difficulty for the Conservative Party at the moment is that one of several reasons they lost the election was because of the erosion of trust in parliament, in MPs, and behaviour that many would argue wasn't very parliamentary - for instance, parties during lockdown."

So to then accuse Ms Reeves of something that "debases politics" is "difficult when they have been accused many times over the last couple of years of scandal after scandal that debased politics".

In saying he "expected better", Mr Hunt's reaction, Mhari said, it was "almost like a parent telling a child they're disappointed in their behaviour".

She went on to say that although they may have a decent relationship behind the scenes, "this is still politics, and even that tone alone is a way of telling that story and spinning that line", raising questions about whether he misled the public.

Former chancellor Jeremy Hunt is asked if he and the Conservative Party misled the electorate in promising a raft of tax cuts during the election, given the state of the public finances.

He rejects the charge, saying: "We never promised that we would deliver tax cuts in the autumn. And we were very, very clear about the timescale."

He says any further tax cuts would have been delivered next year through measures like welfare reform and cuts in the public sector.

Asked if Rishi Sunak pushed him to go further on tax cuts ahead of the election than he was able to deliver, he replies that the pair "agreed" that economies grow faster with lower taxes.

"We had to put taxes up because of the pandemic. But we needed to do the hard work to bring them down."

It's possible that interest rates could be cut later this week, and we conclude by asking Mr Hunt if he wishes the election had been called later.

He replies: "I think the electorate are smart enough to see through what are temporary things that come and go when it comes to the statistics."

Pointing to the reduction in inflation over his time as chancellor, he adds: "I understand there were other reasons why we didn't win the election, but I think that was something people recognised was a very important achievements.

Rachel Reeves has claimed that there was a £22bn black hole in the public finances, and that Jeremy Hunt failed to notify parliament of it.

But the former chancellor rejects that accusation, pointing specifically to tackling illegal migration as a way of reducing costs, which was the "bulk" of the likely overspend.

He tells Sky News: "We were warned by the Home Office, that the asylum bill could be up to £11bn a year by 2026 - that number was in the public domain.

"And so we had a plan to deal with it. It was the Rwanda plan. What Labour did was they cancelled that plan on day one."

As a result, all the money was spent on it without any of the benefits.

"So the asylum budget is going to go up because of what Labour has decided to do," he says.

Asked if he was aware that the Tory government's plans would have seen them go two-three times past its reserves of money, he replies that the claim is "absolute nonsense".

He argues that the Rwanda scheme would have brought the asylum bill down, the Tories would not have given such large public sector pay rises, the pressures on reserves can be reduced through the year, and some departments underspend.

"We would have been able to live within our means," Mr Hunt insists.

"You can accuse me of making many mistakes, but not taking tough decisions on the public finances to make sure that they are in order is something that no one would accuse me of."

We are now speaking with the former chancellor Jeremy Hunt, and we start by getting his reaction to his successor Rachel Reeves's accusation that he "lied" to the country about the state of the public finances (more here).

He replies: "I think it's very disappointing that the new government is choosing to do politics this way. I think it actually discredits politics when people call each other liars.

"I thought more highly of Rachel Reeves. I actually praised her on election night as being a committed civil servant. I think she can do better than that."

Mr Hunt says he is "of course" angry at the accusation, but is "disappointed more than anything else".

He goes on to say that the Tories "had good plans to deal with the pressures in public finances based on productivity in the public sector, welfare reform, and the Rwanda scheme".

Labour has reversed those plans and chosen to spend £9bn on public sector pay rises instead, which contributed to the financial black hole.

"If there's any black hole here, it is because of choices that the new government has made, because we had good plans in place.

"And that's why I think people will be very disappointed that she's trying to pull this stunt in claiming there's a fictitious black hole."

The six candidates for the Tory leadership have been threatened with a "yellow card" in a bid by party chiefs to ensure the contest is a clean fight.

The shock move is aimed at preventing a repeat of the "constant backbiting" of the past five years, which Tory grandees blame for the party's crushing election defeat.

The threat suggests that the Tory high command is concerned that abuse of rivals during the campaign will project an image of a defeated party in a state of civil war.

The "yellow card" announcement came from 1922 Committee chairman Bob Blackman as he confirmed the six who will take part are those who have already declared.

Asked about a "red card", Mr Blackman said he hoped that would not be necessary, but insisted there would be sanctions if a candidate made a damaging statement about a rival.

Battling to replace Rishi Sunak as party leader in three months' time will be Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, Priti Patel, Mel Stride and Tom Tugendhat.

Speaking in hot sunshine outside parliament as nominations closed at 2.30pm yesterday, Mr Blackman issued a stern warning to the candidates that bitter personal attacks would not be tolerated.

Rachel Reeves has scrapped some winter fuel payments, along with a raft of other government programmes and policies, to plug a projected government overspend of £22bn.

Watch below as Sky political correspondent Rob Powell explains what was announced and the amount it costs.

Next, we challenge the chancellor on her claim that there is a £22bn black hole in the public finances.

It has been pointed out that the black hole would have been more like £11bn had the government not made the political choice to accept the independent pay review bodies' recommendations for public sector pay rises in full.

Rachel Reeves replies: "Even it was a £10bn or £11bn black hole, it's still unforgivable."

She says it was the Conservative government that set up the pay review bodies, but this year did not give a number to them on what was affordable, which was not previously known.

The chancellor also says the cost of NHS industrial action last year was £1.7bn, so "the cost of doing nothing" is "not zero either".

"The alternative is a situation where we continue to struggle to recruit and retain soldiers and officers in our armed forces, where we continue to struggle to recruit doctors and nurses in our NHS, and where we struggle to retain public sector workers. And that has a cost as well."

Asked if she made a choice to favour public sector workers over pensioners yesterday by massively restricting eligibility for the winter fuel payment, Ms Reeves replies: "Their pay has fallen behind pay in the private sector this last decade. It's the first time they've had a real terms pay increase in 10 years. And I think that is right."

She adds: "We had to make difficult decisions yesterday. And the changes in the Winter Fuel Payment to restrict it to pensioners on Pension Credit was a difficult decision. But it's one that will save the public purse £1.5bn a year."

She insists she is "not singling out any group" and there are "more difficult choices to come in the autumn".

Next with Rachel Reeves, we turn to her accusation that the previous government "covered up" a £22bn hole in the public finances, and ask if she is calling her predecessor a liar.

The chancellor replies: "Jeremy Hunt covered up from the House of Commons and from the country the true state of the public finances. He did that knowingly and deliberately.

"He lied, and they lied during the election campaign about the state of the public finances."

She goes on to say that while she was putting forward a fully-funded manifesto, the Tories were proposing tax cuts "all the while knowing there was already a £22bn black hole in the public finances".

"It is beyond reckless and irresponsible, and at a time when trust in politics is already at an all-time low... to then mislead people in that way during a general election about what was possible - it was unforgivable."

Watch the moment below - and hear Jeremy Hunt's response live on Sky News at 8.45am.

We are now speaking with the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and we started by asking what her reaction was to the knife attack in Southport in which two children were killed and nine others injured.

She says: "It's beyond the worst nightmare of any parent what's unfolding in Southport, and my thoughts and prayers are with all of those families affected."

She also pays tribute to the emergency services and the NHS treating the children and helping the families impacted.

"Nothing can prepare you for something like this, and I think everybody across our country today is thinking of that community and those families."

The chancellor says she is "sure" the prime minister will visit Southport at some stage, and confirmed that the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, is already there.