Simon Case, the UK’s Cabinet Secretary, has written a leaked letter in which he criticised the previous Conservative government for not conducting a spending review during its final years in office, claiming that it has contributed to uncertainty over public finances. The letter came in response to accusations by the Conservatives that the new government’s claims of inheriting an economic “black hole” were tarnishing the reputation of the civil service.
Former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt had written to Case in July expressing concern over discrepancies between spending estimates published by the government and claims made by Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Case responded by stating that the differences were due to the compressed parliamentary timetable between the 2017 general election and the summer. He went on, however, to question why departments’ budgets had not been updated since 2021.
Case argued that pressure on spending plans had resulted from a lack of new spending review despite in-year changes to spending plans which were the result of significant pressures that had materialised since budgets were set in 2021. He suggested that conducting “a prompt Spending Review” would be “the most effective way to transparently identify, quantify and address those pressures.”
The opposition and the new chancellor’s claim of £22 billion gap in spending plans and the need to find ways to fill it are expected to dominate politics for some months to come. The Conservatives argued that they bequeathed a growing economy to Labour and attribute any spending gap to the government’s decision to approve above-inflation pay rises for public sector workers.
Case is serving his fourth prime minister since he took up his role as Cabinet Secretary in September 2020. He has been controversial in this position, facing scrutiny for his role in the Downing Street parties saga and messages exchanged with ministers during the pandemic. Case is widely expected to leave the civil service in the coming months.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Cabinet Office declined to comment on the leaked letter, stating, “We don’t comment on leaks.”
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