IT'LL BE PAINFUL

PM signals spending cuts and tax rises for the better off as he condemns Tories' recklessness | Labour and SNP clash over who is to blame for huge drop in Scottish Government budget

- PAUL HUTCHEON and ANDREW QUINN

KEIR Starmer has warned that his Government's first Budget will be "painful" due to the mess left by 14 years of Tory rule.

The Prime Minister said tax rises for those with the "broadest shoulders" are needed as well as tough decisions on spending.

He added: "I'll have to turn to the country and make big asks of you."

His message came as Labour and the SNP traded blows on who is to blame for huge Scottish Government cuts.

In a speech in the Downing Street rose garden, the PM said "things are worse than we ever imagined" after Ministers looked under the bonnet of the finances they inherited.

His central problem is a £22 billion "black hole" in the public finances which Starmer said is down to Tory recklessness.

He said: "There is a Budget coming in October and it's going to be painful. We have no other choice, given the situation that we're in.

"Those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden, and that's why we're cracking down on non-doms.

Starmer also said he was asking voters to "accept short-term pain for long-term good.

"And I know that, after all that you have been through, that is a really big ask and really difficult to hear. That is not the position we should be in. It's not the position I want to be in, but we have to end the politics of the easy answer that solves nothing."

He said of looming tax rises: "We were being honest about the situation before the election, we set out very clearly what we would be doing with tax rises.