‘Budget emperor has no clothes’ says shadow minister as MPs continue debate

Evening Standard

The shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith has claimed “the Budget emperor has no clothes” as MPs began the final day of debate on Labour’s first Budget in 14 years.On Wednesday, MPs will vote on the Budget outlined to Parliament by Chancellor Rachel Reeves last week, which she promised will “rebuild Britain”.Mr Griffith has criticised the Government’s plans for economic growth, and said it has “already failed” in that goal.

Transcript

00:00Madam Deputy Speaker, the Government may be right to say that there is much to rebuild

00:04in Britain today, but what this Budget does, combined with the Government's nationalisation

00:09of railways, employment rights bills and GB energy, is take us further away from that

00:15goal. Higher taxes, more regulation, bigger Government and a smaller, wealth-producing

00:22part of the economy. It's a Budget for prejudice rather than progress.

00:28Whilst the Labour Benches will praise the Budget for the finer of its measures and the

00:33socialist purity of its design, their constituents can see that when it comes to growth, the

00:40Budget Emperor has no clothes. The OBR strips it back to its stark naked flesh when they

00:46say Budget policies, they say Budget policies temporarily boost output in the near term

00:55but leave GDP largely unchanged in five years. If growth is its central mission, the Government

01:03has already failed.

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