BRACE FOR TAX PAIN TO PAY FOR RACHEL'S 'FANTASY' SPENDING

Taxpayers likely to foot bill as Reeves splashes cash on NHS and net zero

- By Martyn Brown

BRITONS face painful autumn tax rises after Rachel Reeves was accused of a “fantasy” £300billion spending spree, critics claimed last night.

The Chancellor splashed the cash in a do-or-die bid to drive growth and revive a shaky economic record.

She used her eagerly awaited Spending Review to pour billions more into defence, the NHS and green energy. But Ms Reeves did not say how she will pay for it, raising the prospect of more tax hikes at the next Budget this autumn.

The Chancellor insisted that her Spending Review is fully funded, telling GB News yesterday: "Every penny is funded through the tax increases and changes to the fiscal rules that we set out last autumn.

"We're not spending a penny more or a penny less than the envelope we set last autumn.

"So all of this is fully funded. I said at the Budget last year, and I repeated again in the Spring Statement in March, that public services now needed to live within the envelope that we have set.

"That has meant difficult conversations, it has meant difficult decisions, but we've stuck to that spending envelope that we set out in the budget last year." However, economists warn that Ms Reeves must find £23billion to plug the gap. Council tax bills are set to rise, for example, to pay for police officers amid concerns over a funding black hole.

Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride blasted: "This is the spend now-tax later review, because the Chancellor knows she will need to come back here in the autumn with yet more taxes and a cruel summer of speculation awaits." Addressing MPs yesterday in the Commons, Ms Reeves claimed her spending plans would "deliver the priorities of the British people".