Sir Keir Starmer blasted on Sky News over the latest Budget from his party.
Sir Keir Starmer was savaged live on Sky News as Tory frontbencher Alex Burghart ripped into Labour’s chaotic economic message, branding the party’s latest claims “pure panic” and “absolute nonsense”. Burghart didn’t hold back for a second, accusing Starmer of desperately scrambling to recover after what he called the “disastrous” Budget unveiled last week.
“I think this is a panic,” he blasted. “I think this is an attempt to regain his footing after his disastrous Budget last week. That has fallen apart over the weekend.” The minister went even harder, claiming Labour’s credibility had collapsed in real time: “There are accusations that the Chancellor lied to the country. Lied to the markets.”
Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have come under fire. (Image: Getty)
The clash erupted as Labour faced mounting pressure over its numbers, with critics insisting key promises are already unravelling as the Chancellor is currently facing multiple accusations of misleading the public before delivering her divisive Budget last week.
It was during her pre-budget news conference on November 4 that Reeves discussed productivity, a measure of the economy’s output per hour worked, and how it impacted the numbers, spreadsheets, and, consequently, the calculations and trade-offs she would have to make. In isolation, she claimed this would make things tougher for everyone.
However, what was not mentioned is that tax receipts were much better than expected and more than offset the reduction in productivity growth.
Reeves said the OBR figures were clear that there had been “less fiscal space than there was” and that she had been “upfront” about her decision-making. However, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch reiterated her call for the Chancellor to resign.
When pressed on the issue on BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Reeves said she did not “accept” she had been misleading. Badenoch, also appearing on the programme, said she was not satisfied with the Chancellor’s denial, however.
The Conservatives have accused the Chancellor of giving an overly pessimistic impression of the public finances as a “smokescreen” to justify tax increases, with Badenoch claiming Reeves had “lied to the public”.
Reeves explained that, despite what critics were saying, “I didn’t have an extra £4 billion to play with” but instead that the OBR figures had been downgraded from £9.9 billion headroom in spring to £4.2 billion in the autumn.
