'£22bn hole in finances'

CHANCELLOR Rachel Reeves yesterday put the UK on notice about future tax rises, as she accused the Tories of leaving an "unforgivable" £22 billion black hole in the public finances.

She cancelled or postponed road and hospital building projects, restricted winter fuel payments to just the poorest pensioners and warned that "difficult decisions'" on tax would be required in her first budget on October 30.

The Chancellor accused her Conservative predecessors of covering up the scale of immediate spending pressures on the public purse.

The squeeze on spending is aimed at finding £5.5bin of savings this year and £8.1bn next year.

However, her predecessor, Jeremy Hunt, claimed around half of the "black hole" in spending was due to her deciding to give above-inflation pay rises to millions of public sector workers.