Rachel Reeves making ‘even bigger mistakes' than Liz Truss, says Kemi Badenoch
'For all their mocking of Liz Truss, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have not learnt the lessons of the mini-budget and are making even bigger mistakes,' Mrs Badenoch wrote in The Telegraph.
'They continue to borrow more and more, unable and unwilling to make the spending cuts needed to balance the books.'
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch hit out at the Chancellor and the Prime Minister (Paul Marriott/PA)
Short-lived Conservative prime minister Ms Truss's mini-budget spooked the financial markets in 2022 and led to a spike in mortgage rates.
'As we all saw in 2022, the Chancellor and the Prime Minister are reliant on the bond markets,' Mrs Badenoch added.
'Yet those bond markets are increasingly jittery about the levels of borrowing today with no balancing spending decreases.
'Rachel Reeves's unfunded series of U-turns have only added to the pressure. She is boxed in by her party on one side, and her fiscal rules on the other.'
The Chancellor earlier admitted Labour had 'disappointed' people while in Government, but said that the Government had got the balance right between tax, spending and borrowing.
Rachel Reeves said she could not please everyone as Chancellor (Yui Mok/PA)
She told an audience at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival that balancing the books meant making tough decisions, even if the are unpopular.
Appearing on the Iain Dale All Talk Fringe show, she said: 'The reason people voted Labour at the last election is they want to change and they were unhappy with the way that the country was being governed.
'They know that we inherited a mess. They know it's not easy to put it right, but people are impatient for change.
'I'm impatient for change as well, but I've also got the job of making sure the sums always add up – and it doesn't always make you popular because you can't do anything you might want to do. You certainly can't do everything straight away, all at once.'
Ms Reeves pointed to Labour's £200 million investment in carbon capture in the north-east of Scotland, which she said was welcomed by the industry.
The Chancellor defended Labour's windfall tax on energy companies (Andrew Milligan/PA)
At the same time, Labour's windfall tax, she said, was not liked by the sector.
'I can understand that that's extra tax that the oil and gas sector are paying, but you can't really have one without the other,' she said.
Defending Labour's record, she said her party had the 'balance about right'.
'But of course you're going to disappoint people,' she added. 'No-one wants to pay more taxes.
'Everyone wants more money than public spending – and borrowing is not a free option, because you've got to pay for it.
'I think people know those sort of constraints, but no-one really likes them and I'm the one, I guess, that has to sort the sums up.'
Ms Reeves said Labour had to deliver on its general election campaign of change, adding that her party did not 'deserve' to win the next election if it does not deliver the change it promised.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Like Clement Attlee, Keir Starmer must rise to the occasion
Martin Kettle rightly says Aneurin Bevan is the one politician other than Clement Attlee whom Labour leaders regularly invoke (Critics say Starmer is no Attlee – and they're right. Labour must look to the future, not the past, 31 July). Keir Starmer has drawn on Harold Wilson for inspiration, but more pertinent to Kettle's argument is David Lammy claiming a role model in Ernest Bevin. Made minister of labour in 1940 and foreign secretary in 1945, Ernie Bevin dominated the decade. Bevin sought a continued US military presence in Europe but had no illusions about the 'special relationship'. The 1956 Suez crisis was a calamitous reality check, confirming the White House's prioritising of US self-interest above any presumed obligation to an ally, however close. Larry Elliott's pessimism over Trump's trade deal with Europe is understandable (This trade deal is the EU's Suez moment – its subservience to Trump is on show for all to see, 31 July), but the EU can take heart from how France responded to the United States torpedoing its joint effort with the UK to regain control of the Suez canal: a renewed commitment to pan-European economic collaboration saw the swift confirmation of a six-nation common market, and a determination that French foreign policy would never again be subject to transatlantic pressure saw the Fourth and then the Fifth Republic develop its own advanced weaponry, both conventional and nuclear. Had Attlee, not Eden, been prime minister in 1956, we can be certain that he would never have sanctioned collusion with France and Israel to invade Egypt, and then repeatedly denied having done so. Attlee's greatest quality wasn't succinctness – it was SmithEmeritus professor of modern history, University of Southampton I do not feel Martin Kettle is entirely fair or correct to say that Clement Attlee, on becoming prime minister, 'pulled Britain out of India as fast as he could'. Attlee had been closely involved in India for more than 20 years, going back to the Simon commission, which had been established in 1927, specifically to consider the possibility of Indian independence and self-rule. As an MP and a member of the commission, Attlee visited India several times before the war (no mean feat in those days), understood the issues and knew the leaders of the political parties and factions. He did not underestimate the problems that independence might bring (although certainly not the violence and bloodshed), noting that partition would 'necessarily leave minorities in both states' but emphasising that his Labour government was 'in earnest in seeking to implement the promises made by Britain'. Eighty years on, another Labour prime minister now faces similar challenges over Palestine. I am sure Keir Starmer, like his distinguished predecessor, will rise to the EvansFormer chair of the south Asia delegation, European parliament Martin Kettle's interesting article on Clement Attlee referred to his wife driving him to Buckingham Palace to meet King George VI on his historic 1945 victory over Churchill. Mrs Attlee was apparently a notoriously bad driver. My late father told me Mrs Attlee once collided with his car when driving the prime minister on a foggy night in London. Fortunately, no one was ArnfieldVancouver, Canada Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Jackie Baillie on abuse of women and where Labour can win
All the more curious then why she pointedly refused to support her party colleague, Joanna Cherry, after she'd received death threats and messages threatening sexual violence from a former SNP member over her sex-realist views. The former first minister was also silent when numerous female SNP politicians were subject to harassment and intimidation by male party activists for defending women's single-sex spaces. Jackie Baillie is no stranger to this treatment either. Scottish Labour's Deputy Leader is telling me about the selection of candidates for next year's Holyrood elections. There are fewer women than men coming forward and so the party has twinning arrangements in place to ensure parity. Kevin McKenna: 'This is the most Scottish moment in my entire life' Kevin McKenna: Misanthropic, be-whiskered sociopaths: cats are for the watchin' Kevin McKenna: As fake left of Labour and SNP condemn Trump, Reform keeps on rising Kevin McKenna: A room full of politicians and me: what could possibly go wrong? I tell her this isn't surprising, given the abuse and defamation of high-profile - mainly SNP-women from within their own party. She discusses the abuse that's been directed at her. 'Social media is quite shocking in its treatment of women,' she says. 'A lot of us have social media comments directed at us that come from a sewer. 'They comment on how you dress, your size and ask if you've got shares in Greggs. But they're just keyboard warriors who would never say it to your face. 'It'll take an effort by all parties to remove this, and I know some of our people do it to SNP people. We need civility in politics. You can disagree – and passionately – but you don't need to abuse people. 'You can grow a hard skin and ignore it as best you can, but I think it's about women encouraging other women. It's about giving them confidence and support. 'The Scottish Labour Women's Committee has been hosting events for women to come along and have a chat if they're thinking about standing.' Ms Baillie has already interviewed more than 100 prospective MSP candidates and says that the party has never previously been as exhaustive in its selection process. 'We're always thinking too about who we would want in the cabinet, if we gained power. They should have some expertise in their chosen policy area. "Sam Galbraith once suggested to me that cabinet secretaries ideally would have run a large organisation and not be scared of instructing the civil servants on how they want things done.' Ah yes: the civil service. A drone-class of dull-eyed automatons have emerged at the top of the Scottish government in the Sturgeon/Swinney era. They're easily picked off by better-educated civil servants who find it easy to impose their own luxury beliefs on them. The contagion has spread to Labour, while the Scottish Greens are little more than a flash mob of itinerant, middle-class flag-warriors. They turn up at the right meetings and get to carry a minister's Costa coffee: posh kids who want a short-cut to parliament without doing the hard graft. 'Your lot has them too, Jackie,' I tell her. 'So, how will you sort that out?' She's alive, at least, to the curse of the civil service as activists. She recalls a third-sector organisation's wretched experience of running into the Scottish civil service. 'They told me they had behaved like activists and that it had become clear they were trying to impose these beliefs on them before they could get anywhere near a minister. 'I watched the development of the National Care Service Bill, a process that involved 200 civil servants. What emerged just did not make any sense. This is why we need a Delivery Unit with partnerships on the ground at local level. People expect more from their government and want to see speedier delivery.' In the light of The Herald's revelations last week about the targeting of gender-realist women inside the UK's and Scotland's main civil service union, the PCS, you can see a potential area for improvement. 'We want to know how passionate prospective candidates are about their own communities. Look at Davy Russell [the recently-elected MSP for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse]. 'I've spent 25 years getting to a point where if I walk down Dumbarton Main Street people will recognise me and say hello. Davy Russell had that from day one. He's a real local, born and brought up there. He knows everyone and they trust him because of that. 'The quality and calibre of prospective candidates I'm seeing is very high. We're getting people who are teachers, social workers, lawyers and at least one NHS consultant. These are people who can be our eyes and ears inside organisations that need to change.' She talks about Sam Galbraith again, the much-admired NHS consultant. "Sam was brilliant as health minister at the Scotland Office,' she says. 'Yet, the civil servants talked Donald Dewar out of putting him in Health in the Scottish Parliament and so he went to education. "That was a mistake. He knew more about Health than the civil servants, and I think they feared that. 'I always say to young people who come into my office: 'go and get a life first. Go out and experience life. Get a profession, do whatever you're going to do; then come and see me. I was 36 when I started in parliament. "I had a seven-year-old daughter. That was a hard juggling act. But it's life experience and it's better for your constituents. We want them to be more knowledgeable; to have done different things; to have interesting skill-sets. If we're fortunate enough to be the government next May, we want to have people who can hit the ground running. 'We'll also have a delivery unit. One of my major criticisms of the SNP is that they have loads of statutory documents, but they line the shelves of St Andrew's House and never get implemented.' I hear what she's saying and it all sounds tickety, but it'll help if you don't have – you know – too much socialism in your blood. In the Anas Sarwar era, a Star Chamber has emerged inside [[Scottish Labour]] which harries those deemed to be too left-wing. She describes this as 'complete nonsense' and says: 'Just look at the range of great candidates that have been selected to stand – people like Carol Mochan and Katy Clark – neither of whom could be considered right-wing.' This time last year, Labour might have been considered slight favourites to take Holyrood next year. But after Keir Starmer's first six months in power, not only the wheels came off, but the road disappeared in front of them. Consequently, Scottish Labour's hopes of power began disappearing faster than the OAPs' winter fuel payments. Jackie Baillie believes though, that Davy Russell's by-election victory is evidence that Scottish Labour are recovering the situation. 'Before that by-election, we were at a lower position in the polls than we are now. We knitted together a coalition of people who felt let down by the SNP and who remain horrified by the Tories. 'Former SNP voters were telling us of their disillusion that this was as good as it gets under the SNP. 'If we had a poll tomorrow, the undecideds would win. 'We've been doing some very careful polling and we're finding that people who aren't yet saying they've voting Labour are not gone back to the SNP. They're undecideds and are back in play. And there are a lot of them.' I tell her that Labour need to understand why a large cohort of traditional Labour voters are backing Reform. And that the extent to which Labour and the SNP acknowledge this may have a significant bearing on next year's election. Thus far, the SNP's response is to dismiss working-class people who back Reform as ignorant bigots. If Labour do the same then they're doomed. The political classes have driven voters into Nigel Farage's arms because they don't like to be falsely accused of being racists and transphobes by a class of people who couldn't find their neighbourhoods with a satnav. 'I'm careful about the Reform factor in Scotland,' she says. 'But I don't think it's as great as people are saying. 'But yes, we need to be in these communities and to be listening to their concerns in a way that the SNP aren't. This is where we can win.'
Spectator
2 hours ago
- Spectator
Why Vance is worth watching this summer
America's two most powerful men are visiting Britain this summer. After Donald Trump's trip to Scotland last month, his Vice President is expected shortly in the Cotswolds. Both men share an interest in the UK – but for different reasons. Trump's ties are ancestral; Vance's passion is more intellectual. 'What's going on with Reform?' he asked Peter Mandelson at a recent function. His choice of England as a holiday destination reflects an engagement in this country's politics. Among Vance's friends and contacts are several prominent British academics. They include Blue Labour founder Maurice Glasman, who corresponded with Vance over email, and James Orr, with whom Vance bonded in 2019 after converting to Catholicism. Shortly after his election to the Senate in January 2023, he came to London and was keen to meet with prominent conservatives. As Vice President, he has shown an eagerness to use his office to engage in UK domestic issues. The best example of this was his Munich Security Conference speech in February. Here he attacked successive British governments for ignoring voter concerns on migration and free speech. He demonstrated too a level of familiarity with specific UK case studies – including a man in Bournemouth convicted for praying outside an abortion clinic. Vance has subsequently weighed in on different European issues, calling the continent the 'cradle of Western civilisation'. All this is to say that Vance is willing and able to use his status to shape the dynamics of the UK-US relationship and, potentially, the future of British conservatism. Right-to-life groups in this country were ecstatic when Vance raised the little-known-case of the Bournemouth abortion clinic. The Vice Presidency might have once been dismissed as 'not worth a bucket of warm piss' – but JD Vance has shown that it affords a bully pulpit with considerable clout in the social media age. Prominent figures in both Reform and the Conservative party are clearly aware of this dynamic. Allies of the Vice President have already met with senior members of Nigel Farage's party. The Clacton MP, who made little comment about Trump's Scotland visit, was this week willing to publicly indulge talk of a meeting with Vance when interviewed on LBC. Other engagements are expected with other leading conservative personalities of interest. Such engagements are timely, given Vance's status as the Intellectual-in-Chief of this White House. For now, he remains the second most powerful in the United States – but all that could change very shortly. The race for 2028 is set to begin in earnest in about 18 months' time and Vance is in prime position to succeed Trump as the Republican nominee. Much as how Thatcher and Reagan first met in 1975, an engagement with Vance this summer could prove most fruitful in four years' time.
