Georgia Pearce
Guest Reporter
Chancellor Rachel Reeves's Budget has been branded "the worst in my lifetime", by political commentator Carole Malone as Labour delivered a record amount of tax rises.
Delivering her economic plans to the House of Commons on Wednesday, Reeves launched a fresh attack on business owners by imposing a rise in national insurance contributions for employers, as well as a cut to business rate relief in 2025.
Speaking to GB News, Malone said that Labour's measures will "trash the economy" and trigger a spike in unemployment for the country.
Delivering her verdict on the Budget, Malone raged: "You're talking about this Budget like it's been accepted - this is the worst Budget that I've ever seen a Chancellor deliver in my life, and I've seen a lot of them.
"This is going to trash the economy, it's going to it's going to trash growth, it's going to put up unemployment and it's going to impoverish millions of people."
Hitting out at Labour, Malone accused the Government of "barefaced lies" in the lead up to the General Election, noting that Britons will be "most cross" about their failure to uphold pre-election promises.
Malone explained: "What I think the British people are going to be cross about is the barefaced lies we were told before the election.
"They made all these promises and said they weren't going to do things, like no tax rises, and suddenly it's £40billion."
Offering a defence for Labour, political commentator Jonathan Lis highlighted that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer made a "concrete pledge" not to increase "income tax, VAT and national insurance".
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Lis explained: "A lot of these measures were sort of signalled and sort of signposted in advance. People knew this going to be a tax-raising Budget, the Government's been clear about that for quite some time.
"The Government made a concrete pledge not to increase income tax, VAT and National Insurance, and I think there was a small print in the manifesto that specified that it relates to employee national Insurance, so they have kept that pledge."
Hitting back at Lis, Malone argued that although the increases are not coming "directly out of the pay packet of employees", it will impact working people as some may "lose their jobs" or "not get a pay rise".
Malone responded: "They're not going to get a pay rise next year, and some of them aren't going to have a job at this time next year.
"Maybe it's not coming directly out of their pay packets, but they will lose jobs because of this. I don't know how you're sugarcoating and saying it's not a problem."
Delivering verdict on the Budget, Lis concluded: "No government is going to win any popularity contest for raising taxes. And at the same time, governments will be judged on public services at the end of their term.
"So there are no magic solutions, there are no win win solutions. There will be tough choices to be made, and some of them I'll agree with, some of them I won't."
Find Out More...
Delivering her economic plans to the House of Commons on Wednesday, Reeves launched a fresh attack on business owners by imposing a rise in national insurance contributions for employers, as well as a cut to business rate relief in 2025.
Speaking to GB News, Malone said that Labour's measures will "trash the economy" and trigger a spike in unemployment for the country.
Delivering her verdict on the Budget, Malone raged: "You're talking about this Budget like it's been accepted - this is the worst Budget that I've ever seen a Chancellor deliver in my life, and I've seen a lot of them.
"This is going to trash the economy, it's going to it's going to trash growth, it's going to put up unemployment and it's going to impoverish millions of people."
Hitting out at Labour, Malone accused the Government of "barefaced lies" in the lead up to the General Election, noting that Britons will be "most cross" about their failure to uphold pre-election promises.
Malone explained: "What I think the British people are going to be cross about is the barefaced lies we were told before the election.
"They made all these promises and said they weren't going to do things, like no tax rises, and suddenly it's £40billion."
Offering a defence for Labour, political commentator Jonathan Lis highlighted that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer made a "concrete pledge" not to increase "income tax, VAT and national insurance".
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Lis explained: "A lot of these measures were sort of signalled and sort of signposted in advance. People knew this going to be a tax-raising Budget, the Government's been clear about that for quite some time.
"The Government made a concrete pledge not to increase income tax, VAT and National Insurance, and I think there was a small print in the manifesto that specified that it relates to employee national Insurance, so they have kept that pledge."
Hitting back at Lis, Malone argued that although the increases are not coming "directly out of the pay packet of employees", it will impact working people as some may "lose their jobs" or "not get a pay rise".
Malone responded: "They're not going to get a pay rise next year, and some of them aren't going to have a job at this time next year.
"Maybe it's not coming directly out of their pay packets, but they will lose jobs because of this. I don't know how you're sugarcoating and saying it's not a problem."
Delivering verdict on the Budget, Lis concluded: "No government is going to win any popularity contest for raising taxes. And at the same time, governments will be judged on public services at the end of their term.
"So there are no magic solutions, there are no win win solutions. There will be tough choices to be made, and some of them I'll agree with, some of them I won't."
Find Out More...