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The government has refused to rule out real-terms spending cuts to the police force and the housing budget, as the battle between the Treasury and senior Cabinet ministers continues ahead of Wednesday’s spending review.
As the chancellor attempts to walk a tightrope between delivering on the party’s election promises while sticking within the bounds of her self-imposed fiscal rules, she has locked horns with Angela Rayner’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Yvette Cooper’s Home Office – who are both understood to have dug their heels in over cuts to their budgets after months of wrangling.
With just days to go before the spending review is unveiled, The Independent understands that neither department has reached a settlement with the Treasury.
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But sending a strong signal of the government’s intent, Cabinet minister Peter Kyle refused to rule out real terms cuts, warning that “every part of our society is struggling”.
It comes amid fears that the Treasury will force cuts to the housing and Home Office budgets to balance the books as the chancellor seeks to ring fence health spending, increase defence to 2.5 per cent of GDP and water down proposals on benefit cuts – as well as U-turn on ending the winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.
Asked whether he could guarantee there would not be a squeeze on the budgets for Ms Rayner or Ms Cooper’s departments, he told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “The first thing is, in the last budget we gave a billion pounds extra to police. We are on the way to delivering 13,000 new police officers right through to community police officers so that people can have community policing back in their communities again.
“On the fact that the police have been writing to the chancellor… We also have letters from the universities, we have letters from doctors about the health service, we have letters from campaigners for child poverty writing to us, and other aspects of challenges in Britain at the moment.
“Every part of our society is struggling because of the inheritance that we had as a country and as a government.”
The technology secretary also said that police must “do their bit” to start adapting to changes that may be necessary as a result of a squeeze on their budget.
“We expect the police to start embracing the change they need to do, to do their bit for change as well. We are doing our bit”, he said.
“You see a chancellor that is striving to get investment to the key parts of our country that needs it the most… You will see the priorities of this government reflected in the spending review, which sets the departmental spending into the long term.
“But this is a partnership. Yes, the Treasury needs to find more money for those key priorities, but the people delivering them need to do their bit as well.”
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It comes after warnings from the police that Britain will become less safe without more funding. Meanwhile, housing association chiefs have said that Britain will be faced with a social housing crisis if ministers press ahead with cuts.
Six of Britain’s most senior police chiefs – including Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley – warned Sir Keir Starmer that he will not be able to deliver his flagship pledge to cut crime without serious investment.
As well as new online threats from organised crime, they said the emergency release of prisoners to alleviate overcrowding in prisons and recommendations in the sentencing review to free inmates earlier would put more pressure on policing.
And with no agreement having been reached on housing, the chief executive of one of Britain’s largest housing associations has raised fears of a “cliff edge” over building more homes – which means money is set to run out by 2026.
The warning from Fiona Fletcher-Smith, chief executive of L&Q and until last week chair of the G15 group of London housing associations, comes as the Local Government Association (LGA) has warned that 51 per cent of councils are now running deficits on their housing budgets.
Meanwhile, the issue is also vexing Labour backbenchers looking at the party’s slide in the polls, with one MP pointing out that Labour’s flagship housing pledge “means nothing if the current stock of social housing suffers” as a result of cuts.
But over the weekend, ministers also confirmed that the spending review will see the government invest “the most we’ve ever spent per pupil in our school system”, after reports that an extra £4.5bn per year will be invested in Britain’s schools.
Meanwhile, the chancellor will also unveil an £86bn package for science and technology on Wednesday, with Mr Kyle saying “every corner of the country” would benefit from the package.
Speaking on Sunday, the tech secretary also confirmed that no decision will be taken on the winter fuel allowance until the Autumn budget – dispelling speculation that the government would make an announcement on it at the spending review.
After chaotic government messaging left millions of pensioners with no idea what the changes will look like or when they will be announced, the technology secretary said “decisions are going to be taken and announced” in the run up to the autumn budget – giving ministers more breathing room to work out how they will be funded.
