AS The first guest on the Journal’s brand-new Podcast On Point, MP John Glen shared details about his new role as chief secretary to the Treasury and recalled the moment he became a member of the privy council and met the King.

For the first episode, Mr Glen was asked a series of readers' questions including whether he believed the country was in a better position now than when the Conservatives first came into office in 2010. 

During the podcast, he admitted that there were difficult choices to be made at the present time.

He said. “That is what politics is about. It is about choices and how to spend money. What we are trying to do is to set the conditions for growth in the economy, so we have more revenue and more choices to make.

“We have come through Covid-19, and we are dealing with the implications of what is happening in Ukraine in terms of inflation, and there is always a case to spend more money but, in my mind, there is a stronger case to have sound public finances and to deal with inflation.

“We hope to reduce inflation by half this year, and there are some positive indications. We think it has peaked now. So, I crack on with it day by day.“

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John acknowledged that he was now in a privileged role and one which required him to manage public money while supporting chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt with decision-making as they approach the budget.

He concluded that there is no single action that the government can take to resolve all issues although there was a determined resolve across the Treasury and across government to do so.

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Part of his new role is to ensure departments can manage their budgets.

He added: “We did a spending review in 2021 where each government department had a budget for three years, and obviously with inflation, it is tougher to hold their spending within the numbers we gave them. There are also pressures around new things the government needs to do.”

Other questions included whether there might be further support for homeowners and whether Rishi Sunak might remain as Prime Minister until the next general election.

The Podcast - Salisbury Journal On Point will be available each week and there will be one interview per month. It is available for free on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts and Anchor FM. 

For more, go to Spotify or your preferred podcast.