Keir Starmer speech LIVE: PM warns it will get worse after discovering '£22bn black hole'

The Prime Minister has warned the nation that "things will get worse" before they improve as he slammed a "£22 billion black hole in the public finances".

The doom and gloom speech laid the blame at the door of the previous Conservative government who was in power for 14 years, however, senior Tory figures claim Sir Keir's words are a way to open the door for Labour tax hikes.

The Prime Minister said "things are worse than we ever imagined", telling a press conference: "In the first few weeks we discovered a £22 billion black hole in the public finances and before anyone says 'Oh this is just performative or playing politics' let's remember the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) did not know about it, they wrote a letter setting that out.

"They didn't know because the last government hid it and even last Wednesday, just last Wednesday, we found out that thanks to the last government's recklessness we borrowed almost £5 billion more than the OBR expected in the last three months alone. That's not performative, that's fact."

Sir Keir Starmer's speech marks a distinct contrast to the mantra of the last Labour administration under Sir Tony Blair, who claimed "things could only get better".

Follow this LIVE blog for more updates throughout the day on the PM's first major speech...