Disbelief as Chancellor Rachel Reeves set to announce spending cuts

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will today announce billions of pounds worth of cuts as she attempts to fill a £20bn hole in the UK's finances.

Reeves will appear before parliament on the day a Treasury audit of public finances is expected to reveal a significant gulf between tax revenues and spending plans.

It is thought that some major infrastructure projects laid out for England could be axed as a result, as well as moves to sell empty public buildings. However, she is expected to confirm a 5.5 per cent pay rise for some public sector workers.

Reeves, who ordered the audit, is expected to accuse the former Conservative government of "covering up" deficiencies in departmental budgets.

She is said to be "genuinely shocked" by some of the numbers emerging.

However, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned of looming cuts before the election and its director Paul Johnson has said Labour "knew to a large degree how bad" the picture was at that point.

And SNP economy spokesperson Dave Doogan said his party had "repeatedly warned the Labour Party that their fixation with copying damaging Tory spending plans and fiscal rules would mean around £18bn of cuts or tax rises".

Doogan said: "Labour denied it through the election but now they admit the cuts will be even deeper.

"Rachel Reeves is repeating the same failed austerity arguments made by former Tory chancellor George Osborne. She must not break the Labour Party's election promise that there will be no cuts."

Last week Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Conservative government's Rwanda plan had cost £700m, almost twice as much as had been thought.

Spending needs not covered by existing budget plans are also said to have been discovered by other government departments.

Former chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said the new Labour administration is "peddling nonsense".

Reeves is expected to say that "it is time to level with the public and tell them the truth": "The previous government refused to take the difficult decisions. They covered up the true state of the public finances. And then they ran away. I will restore economic stability. I will never stand by and let this happen again. We will fix the foundations of our economy, so we can rebuild Britain and make every part of our country better off."