Rachel Reeves requests urgent assessment of spending inheritance

MPs will hear assessment this month as new chancellor tries to pin blame on Tories for tough decisions ahead

Rachel Reeves is to provide an emergency assessment of the government's spending inheritance before MPs leave for their summer break as she attempts to pin the blame for looming tough tax and spending decisions on the defeated Tories.

The new chancellor used her first speech since arriving at the Treasury to insist there would be no deviation from Labour's hardline stance on reducing the national debt despite being bequeathed the worst set of circumstances since the second world war".