Chancellor Rachel Reeves appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, where hosts Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid grilled her on the budget.
Rachel Reeves appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain (Image: ITV)
One question left Chancellor Rachel Reeves squirming on Good Morning Britain on Thursday. The Labour politician appeared on the ITV breakfast show, where hosts Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid put questions to her, after she delivered an update on the spending budget just a day before.
But one of the questions proved to be tricky for her as she sidestepped it as best as she could. Richard said to her: “Every single economist that you can shake a stick at this morning, on the left and on the right and in the centre, are saying that you will have to raise taxes.” He then grilled her, asking: “Are you saying to us, categorically, this morning that that won’t be necessary?” There was a brief silence as Reeves considered her next words carefully. Finally, she responded: “Well, no Chancellor is going to write a future budget before they have even had a forecast and before you know the economic situation.”
Richard Madeley grilled the politician (Image: ITV )
She elaborated, adding: “But everything I set out yesterday was funded within the envelope which I set out last year in the spring and that’s what the spending review did.
“We have now set the budget for the day-to-day budget for the next three years and capital spending for the rest of this parliament, with a focus on the priorities of the British people.”
Richard’s grilling was not over yet as he urged: “Let’s not mince words, Chancellor.” He added: “You’ve had a terrible start to your job, haven’t you?” He then listed of some of the politician’s controversial moments including axing the winter fuel payments, highlighting a row over her CV and allegedly accepting freebies.
Rachel Reeves announced the spending review yesterday (Image: ITV)
He brutally called her out on popularity, stating: “You are less popular now than Kwasi Kwarteng was after the Liz Truss car crash budget. Do you not wish you had done things a bit differently in this first year?”
Reeves then passed the blame on to the former Conservative government saying that she faced a “difficult inheritance” from them. She said: “There was a £22 billion black hole in the public finances. The previous government was spending money that it didn’t have and I had to make a number of difficult decisions.
“But that is my responsibility as Chancellor, to make sure that the figures add up. Because, if you don’t, then you risk going the same way as Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, crashing the economy and putting mortgage rates through the roof, putting people in peril. I am never going to take those risks with the public finances, but it does involve difficult decisions.”
