Rachel Reeves will be launching an Elon Musk-style war on ‘waste and inefficiency’ as the Chancellor secures £600million injection from China.
She is set to do this after a week of turmoil in financial markets which saw her visit to Beijing being criticised.
Ms Reeves will lead this new drive to tackle waste across the public sector, which will leave ‘no stone unturned’.
Officials will work with the private sector to ’embrace ideas, expertise and innovation’ in a bid to cut on unnecessary spending, Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury in The Sunday Telegraph.
He explained that panels made up of experts from outside Government are being brought into every department in order to bring perspective on how taxpayer’s money is being spent and how to best use it.
This mirrors efforts across the pond where Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were tasked in the new Trump administration to look at cutting regulations, spending, and headcounts within government as part of the Department of Government Efficiency, or ‘Doge’.
On Monday, the Prime Minister will be unveiling a new government strategy which is aimed at encouraging more AI companies to invest in the UK so as to boost growth.
This comes as it was announced that £600million in investment over five years from China to the UK has been agreed.
Rachel Reeves, pictured, will be launching an Elon Musk-style war on ‘waste and inefficiency’ as the Chancellor secures £600million injection from China
Following a meeting with her Chinese counterpart, the vice-premier He Lifeng, right, Ms Reeves said she wanted a long-term relationship with the communist state that was ‘squarely in our national interest’
This mirrors efforts across the pond where Elon Musk is looking at cutting regulations, spending, and headcounts within government as part of the Department of Government Efficiency, or ‘Doge’
The Chancellor claimed that closer links to Beijing were ‘crucial’ for economic growth.
Following a meeting with her Chinese counterpart, the vice-premier He Lifeng, she said she wanted a long-term relationship with the communist state that was ‘squarely in our national interest’.
It followed a week in which the Treasury was forced to intervene to stabilise financial markets following the suggestion that rising debt costs had wiped out all of Ms Reeves’s headroom and put her in breach of her own fiscal rules.
But her announcement came amid criticism from the Conservatives that she should have remained in the UK to ‘fix this mess of her own making’.
She was also facing mounting attacks from within her party. One Labour MP told the Telegraoh: ‘The Government’s whole strategy depends on growth. But there is a lack of confidence. Growth depends on low energy prices, confidence, investment in infrastructure and she has done the exact opposite.’
They went on to say: ‘The support for her has evaporated – even those who supported her at first are now waver- ing’ and said that there ‘just isn’t a solu- tion with her in place’.
They added that Ms Reeves’ ‘hope- less’ tenure so far is now ‘the first if not the second topic of conversation wher- ever MPs sit down and have a chat for a cup of tea or a pint of beer or bump into each other on the corridor’.
Another Labour MP said that her trip to China ‘smacks of desperation’ and indicates that she is ‘running out of options’ to boost growth in Britain.’
Earlier this week economists said a spike in rates could leave the Chancellor facing a £10 billion-a-year increase in debt interest payments – putting her on course to break her own fiscal rules.
Treasury sources acknowledged Ms Reeves could be forced to act as soon as March if sceptical financial markets continue to raise the cost of borrowing.
Economists said a spike in rates could leave the Chancellor facing a £10 billion-a-year increase in debt interest payments (File image of London’s skyline)
However, in a rare intervention, a spokesman for the Chancellor said her commitment to the fiscal rules was ‘non-negotiable’.
A source said Ms Reeves would not wait until the autumn Budget if a new economic forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in March shows she is on course to break her rules.
The source suggested the Chancellor is against further tax rises or borrowing and will cut spending if market conditions continue – paving the way for a potentially huge Cabinet row over where the cuts should fall.
Experts warned that the UK could be heading for a 1970s-style debt ‘nightmare’, experts warned last night after the pound fell sharply against the dollar and the Government’s borrowing rates rose to a 27-year high.
There were also warnings that the growing crisis could hit mortgage rates if it continues.