Britain risks a future debt crisis with a £30bn black hole in its public finances as the Conservatives and Labour rejected calls from the International Monetary Fund forBut the IMF said: “The Government faces pressing service delivery and investment needs which, in staff’s view, will be difficult to accommodate within the official medium-term spending plans.”
It warned of “tough choices” and laid out a series of policy options including taxes for road usage, charging VAT on a wider range of products, scrapping the triple lock on state pension, putting higher taxes on property and charging people to access some public services. Neither party has explained how it will meet the 1 per cent spending target, which experts have said will require billions of pounds in cuts to most Whitehall, other than those like health and Defence which are already guaranteed to see their budgets grow significantly in the coming years.
The fund also warned of long-term obstacles to economic growth in Britain and recommended reforms to housing, skills and health to help boost productivity.