debates/debates2025-12-09c conversation_12
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: debates/debates2025-12-09c conversation_12

Lorraine Beavers:If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities. \p Rachel Reeves: Covid fraud and error under the previous Government’s mismanagement cost the taxpayer £10.9 billion. They played fast and loose with the public purse and left the front doors wide open to fraud. That is why I have appointed a covid corruption commissioner to carry out the independent review. This Government are doing everything to recover taxpayers’ money. We have already got back around £400 million, with more to come. That money belongs to the British people in our communities and in our NHS. We welcome the publication of the commissioner’s independent report and will respond fully in the new year. \p Lorraine Beavers: The British people are paying the bill for criminal covid fraud. Under the Conservatives, waste and corruption exploded and taxpayers’ money was stolen. Will the Chancellor make sure that the Labour Government continue to go after those who stole from the British taxpayer and make sure that we get every penny back? \p Rachel Reeves: I could not agree more. The previous Government failed to protect public money, while this Government have generated around £400 million by getting money back. We all know what happened: the Tories dished out contracts to their friends and donors—money that never belonged to them. This Government will leave no stone unturned because that money belongs to taxpayers, not with cronies or crooks. \p Lindsay Hoyle: I call the shadow Chancellor. \p Mel Stride: The process surrounding the Budget was utterly chaotic. We had months of damaging speculation, fuelled by briefings and leaks from the Treasury itself. They included briefings on 14 November that moved markets and gave the appearance, at least, of being deliberately inaccurate, which is why we need the Financial Conduct Authority  to investigate. May I ask the Chancellor a simple question? Did she at any point authorise or allow confidential details of the Budget or the forecast to be briefed to the press—yes or no? \p Rachel Reeves: No. \p Mel Stride: The Office for Budget Responsibility’s own guidance states:

“The interim rounds are transmitted to the Chancellor in confidence”.

Yet the Chancellor repeatedly stated before the Budget that the OBR had downgraded its productivity forecast. In her statement in Downing Street on 4 November, she said in relation to the OBR’s forecast that

“it is already clear that the productivity performance…is weaker than previously thought.”

Why did the Chancellor breach the confidentiality of the OBR? \p Rachel Reeves: In its spring statement, the OBR was clear that productivity was coming in lower than forecast, and it was clear that it was reviewing that over the summer. The numbers that the OBR has since published showed that in the final pre-measures forecast the fiscal headroom was just over £4 billion. I was clear in my speech on 4 November that I did not want to reduce the headroom; I wanted to increase it. I increased it to bring back the stability that is much needed in our economy after 14 years of Conservative government.