Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick has said Labour’s first budget in fourteen years represents “the biggest heist in modern history”.
Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch, the frontrunner in the race to succeed Rishi Sunak, has said the budget is one of “higher taxes, more borrowing and lower growth”.
The budget received significant criticism from Sunak in the House of Commons, after the chancellor announced a £40 billion uplift in taxation.
The former prime minister said Rachel Reeves had “let borrowing rip” with her fiscal measures.
He said: “A few weeks ago the prime minister said the budget would balance the books. But this budget does no such thing and reveals that they haven’t been straight with the British people because today the chancellor has launched an enormous borrowing spree, saddling our children and grandchildren with billions upon billions of pounds more debt, pushing up interest rates, leaving our economy more exposed to future shocks and leading the OBR today to now forecast higher inflation in every year of the forecast.
“Her decision to let borrowing rip makes a total nonsense of her claims on the state of the public finance because if they truly were in such a dire strait as she has said, what we should have seen today is a significant reduction in borrowing to repair them, not the splurge she has just unleashed.”
The candidates vying to replace Sunak as Tory leader have now reacted in similar terms, with Jenrick labelling Reeves the “gloom and bust” chancellor.
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How Rachel Reeves navigated her budget traps — and set more for the next Conservative leader
The former immigration minister said: “Labour promised not to raise taxes, but this £40bn tax hike amounts to a £1,400 bill for every household. The British public are right to be furious that they were brazenly lied to.
“No budget in recent memory has hiked the taxes of the British people more. Labour’s recipe of taxing, spending and borrowing more has caused the OBR to downgrade growth to amongst its lowest levels for decades.
“Forget boom and bust. Rachel Reeves will go down in history as the gloom and bust chancellor.
“Reeves and Starmer conned the public at the general election and working people are now paying for it with higher taxes and lower growth.”
Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch said: “Labour had 14 years in opposition to think about what they should do with the economy and this is what we get: higher taxes, more borrowing, and lower growth.
“We Conservatives cannot afford to make the same mistake.”
The former business secretary added: “We need to return to principles and spend our time out of government building a plan that will rewire the state, bring down taxes and reward the risk-takers and the entrepreneurs who create jobs and fuel economic growth.”
The next leader of the Conservative Party will be declared on Saturday 2 November.
Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, labelled the budget “politically clever but economically illiterate”.
“Perhaps the Rt Hon Member for Hackney North [Diane Abbott] was helping out with the sums?”, he quipped.
Addressing the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon, Reeves vowed to “invest, invest, invest” to “rebuild Britain”.
The first female chancellor said: My belief in Britain burns brighter than ever. And the prize on offer today is immense.
“More pounds in people’s pockets. An NHS that is there when you need it. An economy that is growing, creating wealth and opportunity for all. Because that is the only way to improve living standards.
“And the only way to drive economic growth is to invest, invest, invest. There are no shortcuts. To deliver that investment we must restore economic stability.”
She added: “This is not the first time that it has fallen to the Labour Party to rebuild Britain. In 1945, it was the Labour Party that rebuilt our country out of the rubble of the Second World War. In 1964, it was the Labour Party that rebuilt Britain with the white heat of technology. And in 1997, it was the Labour Party that rebuilt our schools and hospitals.
“Today, it falls to this Labour Party, this Labour government, to rebuild Britain once again.”
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