- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Keerthi Mohan
SAJID Javid has cancelled his first major speech as Chancellor, prompting speculation that an election could be on the horizon.
The speech was due to take place in Birmingham, and it was now being rescheduled, a Treasury spokesperson said.
The one-year spending review, called a spending round, was now being fast-tracked to take place on September 4.
“The forthcoming spending round will instead be brought forward in early September and will cover the themes and priorities he was due to outline,” they said.
Labour’s shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has criticised Javid’s decision to cancel the speech, saying it was an indication that the government was panicking.
“Sajid Javid is getting a record of announcing events and initiatives, and then within hours cancelling or reversing them,” he said. “This doesn’t inspire confidence. Panic seems to be setting in inside government.”
On September 4, Javid will make his first round of spending pledges. Schools, hospital and the police are expected to get a pay boost.
Javid said the review would “give Whitehall departments certainty over their budgets for next year, and will confirm our plans to fund the nation’s priorities”.
He added: “The next 65 days will see a relentless focus across Whitehall on preparing to leave the EU. As the prime minister has said, the best outcome for us would be to leave with a deal – he spent much of last week speaking to his European counterparts to do just that. But to get that deal, we need to be prepared to leave with no deal.
“That’s why after just a few days in the Treasury, I doubled Brexit funding for this year by making an extra £2bn available for no deal preparations.
“That means we can recruit up to 1,000 more Border Force staff, create extra capacity to avoid delays with passport applications, and improve transport infrastructure around ports like Tilbury and Dover.”
