00:00Look, the IMF are absolutely right to say you have to put public finances on a sustainable basis.
00:05And that is the central challenge that any Chancellor would have faced.
00:11How do we avoid austerity cuts in public services whilst at the same time not damaging economic growth?
00:18Now, unfortunately, she's chosen to raise taxes, which the Office for Budget Responsibility,
00:24the watchdog, say will mean 50,000 fewer jobs or the equivalent of in the economy.
00:30We'd have found that money for the NHS a different way.
00:33We'd have done welfare reform.
00:35If you can reduce the number of people claiming welfare to the levels before the pandemic,
00:41that saves £34 billion. Those are really difficult decisions.
00:45Don't want to pretend they're easy at all.
00:47But if you do that harder path, it's good for the economy.
00:51It gets people into work.
00:52It's good for individuals, much better for people to be in work than out of work.
00:57And you can avoid these very damaging tax rises,
01:00which are going to mean lower living standards, lower wages for millions of people.
01:05If you look at their forecasts, they actually are lower over the next five years.
01:11They then say it could lead to higher growth after five years if this level of investment is sustained,
01:18in brackets, if taxes go up even further.
01:22But here's the real point. It's a completely legitimate choice to put up taxes.
01:27I happen to think it's the wrong one, but it's a legitimate choice.
01:31But if you want to do that, you should say so before the election.
01:35And people are feeling very betrayed this morning
01:37because the Chancellor said 30 times this year before the election that she had no plan.
01:43She wouldn't increase tax outside what was explicitly written in the Labour manifesto.
01:48She's broken her word.
01:50And when people experience lower living standards, lower wages as a result,
01:56they're going to feel very angry indeed.
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