'Tories left UK broke'

A CABINET minister has said the Tories left a "catastrophic" inheritance and covered up the extent of the issues, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to unveil a black hole in the public finances of around £20 billion.

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Environment Secretary Steve Reed was asked if Labour's shock about discovering the state of public finances after coming to power was "theatre".

Mr Reed told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: "It's not only that we didn't know, the prime minister deliberately covered it up."

He pointed to the state of prisons and the Rwanda policy as examples of public finance issues the Labour Government is learning the true extent of.

He would not confirm that Labour would consider pensions relief and capital gains and inheritance levies to plug the gap.