'Black hole' Most of £22bn deficit 'to stay with Labour until 2030'

Rachel Reeves has been warned that most of the £22bn "black hole" in the public finances that Labour claims was "covered up" by the Conservatives will continue to hang over the government by the end of the decade.

- Richard Partington

In a downbeat report before the chancellor's budget later this month, the Resolution Foundation thinktank said as much as £19bn of the shortfall would persist until 2029-30 unless Reeves took action to raise taxes or cut spending.

After Labour's landslide election victory in July, Reeves published Treasury analysis revealing a £22bn overspend in the current financial year which she claimed had been "covered up" and left unaccounted for by the Conservatives.

In analysis angrily disputed by the Tories, this included a soaring bill to deal with asylum claims and illegal immigration, as well as spending on the NHS, the Ukraine crisis and maintaining roads and railways.