Rachel Reeves calls Reform a ‘clown show’ – but her latest pensioner tax raid is a circus
The Chancellor reckons Reform UK is a “clown show”. Well, she should know.
Rachel Reeves calls Nigel Farage a clown but the joke is on her (Image: Getty)
Rachel Reeves is set to attack Nigel Farage’s economic plans today, warning that Reform would “lose control of spending and force up inflation and people’s mortgages” if it won power. Ridiculously, she contrasts this with her own brilliant stewardship of the economy, which involves “cutting the deficit and getting debt falling… while rewarding working people”.
None of which is actually happening. Instead, the deficit and debt are both rocketing, and working people are losing their jobs in droves. But when did the truth bother Reeves?
For her to accuse Farage of losing control of spending, so soon after bungling her disability benefit reforms, is beyond a joke.
Yet Reform UK does deserve a bucket of water in its face. Last year it pledged £140billion of extra spending funded by £156billion of cuts. That’s not credible.
Voters will get soaked if they fall for that. Just as they’ve already been soaked by Labour.
Reeves has turned the economy into her own big top, juggling endless tax hikes and spending promises, while dropping every single ball. She might poke fun at Farage, but nobody’s laughing at her increasingly desperate act. Send in the clowns? They’re already here.
There’s nothing amusing about her latest tax stunt, which will trigger fury rather than laughter.
Reports suggest she’s considering a cap on lifetime gifts, hitting parents and grandparents who want to help loved ones with deposits, bills or education costs. The plan would reduce the amount people can give away tax-free, ensuring the Treasury scoops up more inheritance tax when families can least afford it.
Financial adviser Scott Gallacher Rowley Turton called the idea “daft”, warning it would turn grandparents into “overnight tax evaders” simply for handing money to children and grandchildren.
Reeves isn’t Labour’s only clown. Keir Starmer has just hired a whole troupe of them to draw up the next Budget on November 26.
Reeves will be joined in the ring by three jokers from left-wing think tank the Resolution Foundation: Torsten Bell, Dan Tomlinson and Minouche Shafik. They’ll be pulling out new taxes like clowns pulling handkerchiefs from their sleeves.
Between them, they’re preparing a £30billion tax raid on pensions, savings, investments and homes. For years the Resolution Foundation has been dismissed as harmless jesters. Now Labour has unleashed them as killer clowns, threatening what’s left of Britain’s prosperity.
Clowns to the left of us, jokers to the right and the Tories aren’t even in the ring. No wonder the UK’s finances are a complete circus.
