PMQs: Reeves ‘coming back for more’ in next Budget, Badenoch warns
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will be “coming back for more” borrowing and further tax rises in her next Budget, according to Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.
During a feisty PMQs the Conservative leader railed against the Prime Minister who she said “failed to repeat the Chancellor’s pledge of no more borrowing and no more taxes”.
After referencing the resignation of transport secretary Louise Haigh, following her conviction for fraud emerging, Badenoch raged: “On to an even bigger fraud, the Budget.
“It is obvious that they are coming back for more.”
She added: “In his manifesto he committed to making Britain the fastest growing economy in the G7. Does he stand by his own pledge?”
The Prime Minister said he urged the opposition leader “to look at the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) report of this morning which has upgraded growth for next year and the year after.
“Which now puts us on target to be the highest growing major economy in Europe in the next two years. She should welcome that.”
Growth projections
But hitting back, Badenoch argued: “I saw the OECD report and what it said was that they will be coming back for more taxes.
“And I think the whole House would have heard him fail to repeat his own pledge. He can’t even repeat the pledges he made just a few weeks ago.”
“We are here to stop him from damaging the economy.”
The , did predict the Budget would boost the economy next year, thanks to higher public spending, with growth picking up to 1.7 per cent in 2025, although it warned the measures risk stoking higher inflation.
In their latest economic outlook, the fiscal commentators’ projections were an acceleration on 2024’s 0.9 per cent, and a significant upgrade from September’s figure of 1.1 per cent.
But Reeves would be required to hike taxes further to ensure the public purse was sustainable, the body added, as it called for “prudent fiscal policy” to guard against shocks.
Budget criticism
And the report stated: “Rebuilding fiscal buffers and continuing to mobilize additional revenue, including by closing loopholes and reducing distortions in the tax system, is necessary to ensure fiscal sustainability”.
Badenoch also accused Labour MPs of “laughing the same way they all laughed during the Budget when they talked about raising national insurance (NI)”, adding: “They have no idea what people out there are dealing with.”
And she criticised the Prime Minister for his cabinet’s lack of business experience, adding: “Chef Tom Kerridge who endorsed Labour at the election said the Budget was catastrophic.
“He built a real business employing young people unlike his cabinet of trade union stooges, CV embellishers and an actual fraudster. None of them have ever run a business.”
While Starmer blasted her for what he dubbed “scripted jokes” and brushed off “lectures about the economy from the party opposite”.
The PM insisted: “They broke the economy – mortgages through the roof and a £22bn black hole.
“She complains about the rise in NI week after week but then two weeks ago she said she wouldn’t reverse it.”