The Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has accused the Chancellor of “punishing hard-working Brits” as Rachel Reeves has put the country on notice it is looking likely there will be higher taxes.
Badenoch said Labour has “quietly given up” on trying to sort the welfare bill, she added, “The Chancellor’s speech was one long waffle bomb, a laundry list of excuses.”
Badenoch said, “She [Reeves] blamed everybody else for her own choices, her own decisions, her own failures.”
The Tory leader warned that the government’s approach to the Autumn Budget will “strangle growth” and hard-working families will end up paying Reeve’s bill as the Chancellor could break the manifesto pledges.
The Tory leader said, “Labour talk about fairness with the language of Robin Hood. They think those that have taken from those that don’t have. They talk about those with the broadest shoulders never worrying about the limit of what those shoulders can bear.
“They talk about fairness for ‘working people’, but they can’t define what a working person is!
“They think that what they’re doing is righteous, but they’re wrong. What they’re doing is making everyone poorer.”
Badenoch said, “We’re the only party with a plan.
“The message that this government is sending couldn’t be clearer: don’t bother doing the right thing; don’t bother living within your means, because the government won’t; don’t bother putting money away to cover your bills, you’ll just end up paying for those that don’t.
“The Budget is an opportunity for Rachel Reeves to fix this, to make savings and take the pressure off all of us. But this morning what we saw was that she has given up trying.”
Badenoch blasted the Chancellor saying it makes no sense for people to work anymore and the economy “doesn’t have to be like this.”
She continued, “What we got was a masterclass in managed decline. A Chancellor claiming she was just going to ‘set the context’, but instead of clarity business leaders are none the wiser, business leaders are confused, workers are anxious.
“Because the truth is Labour doesn’t have a plan to get Britain working again!
“The Chancellor’s speech was one long wafflebomb. A laundry list of excuses in which she blamed everybody else for her own choices, her own decisions, her own failures.”
Tory shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said that the Chancellor “doesn’t have the backbone” to cut welfare spending which is why she is raising taxes.
Stride fumed that Ms Reeves “has made an emergency speech because she is panicking about the speculation she has fuelled. But all she’s done is confirm the fears of households and businesses – that tax rises are coming.
“The Chancellor claims she fixed the public finances last year. If that was true, she would not be rolling the pitch for more tax rises and broken promises. The reality is she fiddled the fiscal rules so she could borrow hundreds of billions more.
“Every time the numbers don’t add up, Reeves blames someone else. But this is about choices – and she made all the wrong ones.
If Rachel Reeves had the backbone to get control of government spending – including the welfare bill – she wouldn’t need to raise taxes.
“If she breaks her promises yet again, enough is enough. She must go.”
