Andrew Marr: Sunak is 'looking over his shoulder' and avoiding making promises over Autumn Statement

15 November 2022, 18:17

Rishi Sunak is 'looking over his shoulder' and avoiding making promises over the Autumn Statement, Andrew Marr has said.

Opening LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr, the presenter said the upcoming Autumn Statement had taken over Mr Sunak's G20 trip amid concerns cuts to education spending could be on the cards.

"Rishi Sunak might be with the international political jet set in gorgeous Bali but the Prime Minister can't escape domestic politics for a second," Andrew said.

"Time After time, in interview after interview, after admitting the obvious - that Britain's reputation had taken a knock following the Truss budgetary disaster - her successor was challenged about the tax rises and public spending cuts coming later in the week.

Watch Tonight with Andrew Marr exclusively on Global Player every Monday to Thursday from 6pm to 7pm

As new budget announcement looms, Andrew Marr questions who's shoulders 'most' of the burden.

Andrew continued: "Tory MPs are getting particularly worked up about possible cuts to education.

"28 of them apparently, have written to the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, saying that cutting education spending would be indefensible, at a time when schools are still trying to cope with the damage caused by the pandemic.

You can also listen to the podcast Tonight with Andrew Marr only on Global Player.

"It's clear that the Prime Minister is looking over his shoulder at the recent past and deliberately, perhaps, making no promises at all about what may happen after Thursday.

"Now, we are all softened up to pain ahead - Jeremy Hunt has talked about eye-wateringly difficult decisions, and horrible ones as well - but the key question is who shoulders most of the burden; and should that, in any circumstances, be schools?"