LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will hold an emergency budget in the autumn and hopes a faster growing economy will allow it to pay for spending pledges, a junior interior minister said on Friday.
FILE PHOTO: Housing Minister Kit Malthouse attends the wreath laying ceremony to mark the two-year anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire in London, Britain, June 14, 2019. Isabel Infantes/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Prime Minister Boris Johnson took office on Wednesday promising a raft of spending pledges including increasing police numbers by 20,000 to help cut crime.
“The prime minister has also announced theres going to be an emergency budget in the autumn which will be designed to stimulate the economy,” Kit Malthouse told Sky News.
“What you hope is that a more strongly growing economy will produce greater tax revenue which we can pay for some of the things that we want to do,” he said.
The finance ministry was not available for immediate comment.
Malthouse said a pledge to boost police numbers would cost about 500 million pounds ($622 million) in the first year.
Some Brexiteers have also been hoping to spend a nearly 27 billion-pound fiscal headroom – equivalent to the difference between the target set for the budget deficit and the shortfall projected by Britains budget forecaster.
Former finance minister Philip Hammond has said that the government will need that money and more if Britain leaves the European Union without a deal.
But Malthouse said “theres cRead More
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