Spending to be boosted by £37billion

SPENDING on public services is set to rise significantly over the next few years despite Labour claims of austerity, the IFS said.

In real terms, the amount spent on the NHS, education and other public services is forecast to rise by £37billion by 2021/22, it reports.

That is made up of £23billion more in day-to-day spending and a £14billion rise in investment. The revelation that ‘austerity’ is not as stringent as claimed will boost Theresa May.

Public spending is still a larger share of national income than it was before 200 .

The IFS said: ‘The UK now has a smaller government deficit than prior to the financial crisis. Tax is higher as a share of the economy than it was in 2007/0 . Perhaps more surprisingly, public spending also takes a slightly larger fraction of national income than it did in 2007/0 .

‘All that austerity has got us back to where we were, in terms of spending overall, ten years into the last Labour government’s term of office.’