OPINION
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver a Budget on November 26 (Image: Getty)
Britons will be poorer this winter because Rachel Reeves is scrambling to tax “anything she can lay her hands on” in November’s Budget, Kemi Badenoch has warned. The Tory leader accused the Chancellor of driving the nation to bankruptcy and racking up debts our children will have to pay “over decades”.
Labour is unwilling to stop “spending more than we earn” on benefits and huge pay rises for trade unions, said Mrs Badenoch. Instead, she claimed the Chancellor and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are trying to balance the books with job-destroying taxes that will hurt economic growth and push up debt further. In a major speech as experts delivered further dire warnings about the state of the economy, Mrs Badenoch said the Chancellor had “a multi-billion-pound black hole in her figures”.
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The Conservative leader said: “So, what’s her plan? She’s going to tax us more. She is in the Treasury right now, I’m sure, with officials. I’m a former Treasury minister, I know how it works. She’ll be desperately making plans for anything she can lay her hands on.
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“She will be looking at hiking taxes on our homes, wages, and pensions. Every single one of us will be paying a Reeves penalty this winter.
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The Conservative leader also took a swipe at Nigel Farage and Reform UK, calling it a “Left-wing party” that wants to increase welfare spending.
She said the Tories stand ready to “clean up an economic mess” as they did once before after former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown allowed borrowing to soar.
The cost of government borrowing soared to its highest level since 1998 earlier this month, amid market concern over the state of the Government’s finances. Costs have since fallen slightly, but a report by Oxford Economics warned the Treasury’s annual interest payments are now ￡5billion higher than in March, and could rise further.
The report said: “In our view, the UK economy remains exceptionally fragile; subdued growth and high inflation and a weak fiscal position are set to persist.”
It said the Chancellor may need to plug a ￡30billion gap in the public finances when she delivers her Budget on November 26. The Oxford Economics report continued: “Therefore, hefty tax increases look likely.”
Ms Reeves has denied previous suggestions that the Budget black hole could be as high as ￡50billion. The Office for Budget Responsibility watchdog will confirm the state of the public finances in a report to coincide with her Budget statement.
In a speech setting the tone for the Conservative Party conference next month, Mrs Badenoch said Labour was leading Britain “into a deeper and deeper crisis, because of their pride”.
She said: “Every family, every business, every charity knows what it means to live within your means. And if you don’t pay your bills, you will go bankrupt.
“If you max out your credit card and the late notice charges start piling up, there’s only one answer – cut your spending.”
Instead, Labour had continued to spend on “inflation-busting pay rises for the unions”, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s new energy company, and a bill for sickness benefits “that are spiralling out of control”.
She said: “Our children will be paying for all of this with interest on top, compounded over decades. They may end up borrowing to pay off the interest on this borrowing.”
Mrs Badenoch added: “Those politicians spending money on things we cannot afford, or making promises they can’t pay for, are misleading you, they are fooling you, and your children, my children, our children will pay the bill.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s first Budget, in October last year, increases taxes by ￡36 billion, pushing the tax take to a record 38 per cent of GDP. But it also increased spending by ￡70 billion annually, funded partly by borrowing an extra ￡32 billion each year, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.
The Conservative leader’s speech came after a summer break which saw Reform hold a series of press conferences setting out plans to tackle crime and illegal immigration, leading to a glitzy conference in which Nigel Farage declared the Conservative Party “dead”.
Ms Badenoch hit back, highlighting Nigel Farage’s plan to lift the two-child benefit cap. She said Reform was “just as bad as all the other left-wing parties”.
The Tory leader said: “We are the only party fighting to protect the money you earn. The only party arguing Government has to live within its means. Every single other political party in parliament today, every single one, wants to increase welfare spending .. they want to lift the two child benefit cap. They don’t mind that our sickness benefits bill alone is on course to reach ￡100 billion by 2030.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “It’s delusional of Kemi Badenoch to think anyone would want to take economic advice from her Conservative Party. Their economy-crashing, growth-killing, irresponsible approach to governing left mortgages spiralling and working people worse off.
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Rachel Reeves 'eyeing up new ￡2bn tax raid' and this time doctors are the target
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Rachel Reeves told to rip up rules and unleash reckless spending spree - and YOU will pay
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Nigel Farage could grow economy by ￡66bn with three tax changes
Rachel Reeves disaster as UK's borrowing costs hit 27-year high after Starmer reshufle
Keir Starmer's approval ratings hit new record low as UK turns on PM's Labour government
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France today is a nightmare vision for Keir Starmer's Britain
Update in 'raise income tax threshold to ￡20,000 from ￡12,570' plan
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“The only thing in Britain that needs a bailout is the Conservative Party from its leadership. The Tories haven’t listened, they haven’t learned, and they can’t be trusted.”
A Reform Spokesman said: “Kemi Badenoch was part of a government that raised taxes to the highest level ever and added hundreds of billions to the national debt.
“She has no credibility. The Tory party should be in hiding when it comes to the economy.”
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