Kemi Badenoch’s jibes at PMQs appeared to force a smile from the Chancellor as the Commons was in stitches.
Kemi Badenoch tore into Cabinet disunity over the Budget, tearing apart Labour’s chaos and leaving the House of Commons in stitches. Blasting Sir Keir’s handling of last week’s Budget, the Tory leader read out anonymous briefings from the PM’s own Cabinet ministers furious at last week’s antics.
During Prime Minister’s Questions, she quoted: “‘The handling of this Budget has been a disaster from start to finish.’ Gesturing along the front bench, Ms Badenoch asked: “Who said that? Was it him? Was it her? Pointing at Ms Reeves herself, she quipped: “In fact, I think it was probably her, actually! It was probably the Chancellor!”
Kemi slammed Labour’s ‘chaotic’ Budget (Image: Parliament Live)
Tory MPs were in stitches (Image: Sky News)
The Cameras cut to Ms Reeves who appeared unable to hide a smile at the joke, as laughing Tory MPs shouted “more!”
Ms Badenoch continued: “One of his ministers said the Chancellor and Prime Minister ‘look weak and incompetent’, the country agrees!”
“We know there were endless Treasury briefings to justify raising taxes on hard-working people to pay for benefits, and those briefings had real-world consequences!
“Hundreds of thousands of people drew down their pension – an irreversible act.
“If the head of the OBR had to resign over market-sensitive leaks, why is the Chancellor still in her job?”
Sir Keir repeated the claim that the Tories left Labour with a ‘£22 billion black hole’ and that the OBR had downgraded productivity forecasts this year as a result of the Tories’ handling of the economy.
Demanding an apology from Ms Badenoch, the Tory leader laughed in his face at the suggestion.
“No one believes a word that the Prime Minister says! We know [Rachel Reeves’s] ‘black hole’ was fake, her book was fake, her CV was fake, even her chess claims are made up!
“She doesn’t belong in the Treasury, she belongs in la la land!”
Ms Badenoch went on to kick Labour divisions, pointing out the Government has raised taxes on working people by £26 billion in order to appease hard-left MPs demanding higher welfare spending.
“He now boasts about scrapping the two-child benefit cap, but he used to say it was unaffordable. He even removed the whip from 7 [MPs] for wanting the same thing.
“He’s very happy to throw them under a bus when it pleases him. So I ask the Prime Minister how did it suddenly become affordable at the exact moment he needed to save his own skin?”
Sir Keir insisted that the vast majority of welfare recipients are in work, and 3/4 children in poverty are in working families.
He claimed the Tories’ two-child benefit cap dragged hundreds of thousands of children into poverty, blasting: “They should be utterly ashamed of that.”
Ms Badenoch hit back: “It’s not just the head of the OBR losing his job, millions of people have been hung out to dry by their Budget.
“Behind it all is a Prime Minister who only cares about one person’s job – his own!”
