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Rachel Reeves today confirmed she will loosen debt rules at the Budget to splurge billions more on infrastructure.
In interviews as she attended IMF meetings in Washington DC, the Chancellor said the government will be shifting to another measure that recognises ‘assets’.
The target to have debt falling over time is expected to be based on liabilities – allow around £50billion more borrowing for projects such as running HS2 to Euston.
She insisted there will be ‘guardrails’, with signs that the commitments to balance day-to-day spending could be made tougher.
An eye-watering £35billion of tax hikes are believed to be in the plans.
However, critics warned that Ms Reeves is ‘fiddling’ the figures – while nervous markets continue to crank up the costs of servicing government debt.
Ms Reeves sounded a notably more upbeat tone in a slick video with less than a week to go until the crucial …