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John McDonnell, economy spokesman for the the U.K.'s opposition Labour Party, will accuse Boris Johnson's government of preparing for a general election rather than fixing the economy in its spending round next week.
McDonnell will say in a speech Thursday that the Treasury's spending allocation, scheduled to be announced on Wednesday, is “crude electioneering” and predicted it would “ignore” issues including child poverty, social care and local government services.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid canceled a speech at the last minute this week, and said instead he would bring forward the results of the spending round to Sept. 4. He also warned ministers not to expect “blank checks,” saying he'd stick to the fiscal rules set by his predecessor, Philip Hammond, for borrowing to be less than 2% of gross domestic product.
“Despite the prime minister's bluster about optimism and promises of new spending, Philip Hammond's austerity rules will be kept in place, meaning another year of austerity,” McDonnell will say, according to extracts released by his office.
Read More: U.K.'s Johnson Accused of Spending for Votes, Not Fixing Economy
During his leadership campaign, Johnson pledged to use the 15 billion pounds ($18 billion) of “headroom” built up under Hammond ahead of leaving the EU to ease pressure on public services.
Almost a decade of austerity helped Labour erode the Conservatives parliamentary majority in the 2017 general election, and the opposition party's campaigning shows it still sees it as a decisive issue in winning over voters.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Thomas Penny, Stuart Biggs
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