Victoria Derbyshire challenged a Tory shadow minister on Newsnight following her criticism of Rachel Reeves’ budget, reminding her of her party’s record with the economy.
On Wednesday the chancellor gave one of the most chaotic Budgets in recent memory.
With a £20bn financial black hole to fill, the chancellor confirmed £26bn in tax increases, which included a ‘mansion tax’, a new mileage tax on electric vehicles and taxes on private pension savings.
Reeves also announced a the two-child benefit cap would be scrapped, and the government’s fiscal headroom will expand to £22bn in five years’ time.
The Conservatives haven’t held back in their criticism of the budget, with Kemi Badenoch labelling it a ‘budget for Benefits Street.’
During an appearance on Newsnight on Wednesday, shadow business minister Harriett Baldwin was also critical of Reeves.
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She said the government have raised taxes “at the slightest whiff of trouble,” hitting out at them for not “getting the welfare bill under control.”
It was at this point that Derbyshire reminded Baldwin of her party’s failure on these very matters, pointing out that under the Tories welfare spending and taxes went up.
“Welfare spending went up, you raised taxes 20 times in the last parliament, you added £1.5 trillion to national debt over 14 years, and there was pretty anaemic growth,” she told the shadow minister.