MILLIONS of public sector workers were handed bumper pay rises today – despite Rachel Reeves unleashing sweeping cuts to plug a £22billion black hole.
The Chancellor claimed to have found a series of financial timebombs left by the Tories that she claimed will force her to make tough choices on spending.
Her politically-charged statement – designed to lump blame onto the last government – is widely viewed as a pitch-roller for tax rises at the Budget later this year.
But Ms Reeves did announce inflation-busting pay rises of 5.5 per cent for public sector workers such as teachers, soldiers, police officers and civil servants.
And junior doctors are in line for a monster 22 per cent wage hike over two years in a bid to end their persistent strike action that is crippling hospitals.
Speaking in the Commons, Ms Reeves said this would be “giving hardworking staff the pay rise they deserve”.
Her fiery statement squarely accused the Tories of “covering up” massive amounts of overspending including in transport and asylum costs.
The Chancellor told MPs: “Upon my arrival at the Treasury it became clear there were things I did not know.
“Things that the party opposite covered up. Covered up from the opposition, covered up from this House, covered up from the country.”
Under a fresh deal struck between Health Secretary Wes Streeting and the British Medical Association, junior doctors would receive a backdated increase of 4.05 per cent for 2023-24, alongside an existing rise of between 8.1 per cent and 10.3 per cent.
They would then be able to cash in a further hike of 6 per cent for 2024-25, along with a consolidated £1,000 payment.
The total package would cost taxpayers around £1billion.
It will be put to a ballot of BMA members, with an expectation but no cast-iron guarantee of passing.
NHS industrial action since December 2022 has led to 1.5million operations, procedures and appointments being postponed.
Ms Reeves has vowed to “fix the foundations of our economy” and accuse ex-PM Rishi Sunak of “covering up” the dire state of public finances.
And after naming a date for an Autumn Budget, Ms Reeves will pledge a fresh crackdown on public sector waste.
Ministers are understood to be eyeing up a hike on inheritance and capital gains taxes this autumn to boost coffers.
PM Sir Keir Starmer has vowed VAT, income tax and national insurance will not go up in this parliament.
