Britain's public finances are on course to show a 22 billion-pound ($28 billion) overspend as a result of poor budgeting by the previous Conservative government, new finance minister Rachel Reeves told parliament on Monday.
Reeves was setting out an audit of spending which she had asked the finance ministry to provide after she took office following the Labour Party's July 4 election victory.
Reeves said past overspending and a failure to allocate sufficient resources to meet investment commitments and demands on public services meant there was a shortfall of 22 billion pounds for this financial year.
Britain's government spent 1.14 trillion pounds in 2023/24, according to official data published earlier this month and net borrowing totalled 122 billion pounds or 4.5% of GDP.
Britain's fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, said earlier this month that since the start of the financial year in April, borrowing had exceeded its March forecast by 3 billion pounds based on provisional data.
($1 = 0.7796 pounds)
