Rishi Sunak has left little space for the Labour Party to oppose his spending plans

By exempting lower-paid workers from the public sector pay freeze, the chancellor has taken some of the sting out of Labour’s opposition, writes John Rentoul

Anneliese Dodds, the shadow chancellor, was left with little to say (Reuters TV)

There were only two savings in Rishi Sunak’s spending plans for next year: a pay freeze for better-paid public sector workers outside the NHS; and a cut in the foreign aid budget. All the rest was spend, spend, spend with only the vaguest promise of a return to “fiscal sustainability” when the economy recovers. 

This put Labour in a difficult position. The chancellor, having spent more this year than even Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell could have imagined was possible, is proposing to increase public spending further next year. Not only that, but he is doing so in ways that you could imagine a Labour chancellor doing. By exempting lower-paid workers from the public sector pay freeze, he has taken some of the sting out of Labour’s opposition. 

All the same, Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, and Anneliese Dodds, the shadow chancellor, could hardly support the freeze, which means that they have finally stepped across the line of advocating even higher spending than the government. But they have done it as tentatively as they possibly can.