(Bloomberg) — Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves warned “difficult decisions” lie ahead as she tries to fix Britain’s public finances, raising the prospect of tax hikes or spending cuts in her first Budget in the autumn. “I’m going to be honest about the scale of the challenge, I’m going to level with people,” Reeves told Bloomberg in her first TV interview since Labour won the UK election two weeks ago. “I’m going to be different.
” Reeves, who is Britain’s first female finance minister, said she will update Parliament this month on her fiscal inheritance from the Conservatives, when she will also set a date for a Budget that will define Labour’s opening period in office. She’s taken charge of the UK’s finances at a tricky time, with the tax burden at a postwar high and Britain saddled with its highest levels of debt since 1961. Given the tough economic picture, there’s an expectation that she will have to announce revenue-raisers or curb spending plans to keep the UK on course to hit its key fiscal target, which is to have debt falling as a share of the size of the economy in five years’ time.
“I’m under no illusions about the scale of the challenge that I face,” Reeves said. “I’m not going to announce any tax breaks or tax changes without saying where the money’s going to come from.” Since becoming Chancellor, Reeves has said Labour’s key mission in government is to boost economic growth, and has pushed ahead with pla.