Rachel Reeves embarks on Whitehall war on waste to free up cash for Budget

CHANCELLOR Rachel Reeves is embarking on a Whitehall war on waste to free up cash for her Autumn Budget.

She has been left sickened at the costs of consultants rather than using in-house mandarins.

Ms Reeves also vowed to cut the £8billion lost a year to fraud and error, as well as crooks exploiting the tax system.

The Chancellor, in the US to drive investment, said: “The more I see the more I’m convinced we can get back money to taxpayers.

"I’m not willing to make those difficult decisions on spending until we’ve done everything we can to root out waste.

“Since I’ve become Chancellor I’m even more determined to deal with this.”

Labour said during the election it would save £750million a year on consultants and halve the spend on hired help.

Figures show the UK public sector awarded £2.8 billion of contracts to consultants in 2022 which included Covid work.

Ms Reeves said: “I get submissions of departments looking at a planning application or an investment in the economy.

“It says so-and-so consultancy is looking at this and then I ask for some more detail and its hundreds of thousands of pounds.

“Now the civil service recruits every year some of the top graduates, brings in fantastic apprentices, and yet it seems to go to consultancies to do big pieces of work.

“I just don’t think it’s justified that taxpayers money is used in this way.”