Rachel Reeves has accused the previous government of leaving a £22 billion shortfall in public finances. But do the chancellor’s sums add up or was this all about the politics?

Anand, Hannah and Paul examine what could be a defining moment for this government, explore what Reeves is trying to do, and try to make sense of some of the decisions - like scrapping road and hospital building projects, restricting winter fuel payments, and cancelling the imposition of a cap on social care charges – that she made this week. 

So what actually is the state of the public finances? Did Labour really not know how bad things were? What does this mean for the Civil Service and, whisper it, independent experts? And with a Budget now inked in for October, what should we be looking out for – and how tough are the decisions now facing the chancellor? 

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THE EXPERT FACTOR: Each week the directors of three leading and respected think tanks – Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Hannah White of the Institute for Government, and Anand Menon of UK in a Changing Europe – get together to discuss, explore and explain the big questions and policy challenges that will be faced by the Labour government, dominate debate in Westminster and beyond, and shape the political landscape for years to come.

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