It's worse than we ever imagined, says Keir as he warns of 'painful' budget choices

SIR Keir Starmer today warned of "painful" budget choices in the coming weeks, accusing the Conservatives of hiding the scale of the economic mess they bequeathed to Labour.

- Jitendra Joshi

"Things are worse than we ever imagined," the Prime Minister said, stressing that the Office for Budget Responsibility had been unaware of a £22 billion hole in the public finances, "because the last government hid it".

The PM delivered a speech from a lectern with the words "Fixing the foundations", likening his task in clearing out "14 years of rot" under the Conservatives to the way that communities rallied round to clean up the mess left by far-Right rioters in a spasm of unrest this month.

He said it was "disgraceful" that the Conservatives had left so few spaces in the prison system, adding he felt "shocked" to have to pore over lists of spare capacity to detain convicted rioters after Rishi Sunak's government declined to build more jails.

He was speaking to the press and about 50 invited members of the public, including emergency workers, apprentices and small business owners, in the rose garden of No 10.