Kemi Badenoch has accused Rachel Reeves of delivering a "waffle bomb" in a speech setting out the economic context ahead of the Budget, saying Labour had no plan to get Britain working again. Speaking in Westminster, the Conservative leader responded to the chancellor's remarks by arguing that tax rises would not be necessary if Labour were serious about cutting public spending.
Reeves earlier refused to say she would stick to a manifesto pledge on tax rises, insisting she must face the world "as it is". Badenoch said the chancellor's speech was "a laundry list of excuses" and that Reeves blamed everybody except herself for her own decisions and failures.
Badenoch said the Conservatives would cut the welfare bill and red tape, and would cut taxes to stimulate economic activity. She noted that the party had already promised to reverse certain tax increases, including inheritance tax on farms, VAT on school fees and the windfall tax on energy companies.
On the pensions triple lock, Badenoch said it was introduced by the Tories to help pensioners on fixed incomes and that scrapping it would not be a growth policy.
Asked how voters could trust the Conservatives after Boris Johnson's national insurance rise and Liz Truss's mini-budget, Badenoch accused the journalist of reading Reeves's briefing notes and said the previous government had to deal with the pandemic, while Labour had no such justification. She also rejected Reeves's claim that the last government put political expediency above the national interest, calling it "utterly ridiculous".
On productivity, Badenoch said Reeves should consider what the government had done to make matters worse, noting that productivity fell during the pandemic and is particularly bad in the public sector.
