Burnham-On-Sea MP Ashley Fox has criticised the Chancellor’s ’emergency budget’, calling it “a mess of her own making” and claiming that it’s a failure to take the decisive action needed to undo the economic damage caused since Labour took office.
Rachel Reeves squeezed the welfare budget further and boosted defence spending in a Spring Statement aimed at kick-starting the faltering economy.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) – the government’s financial watchdog – halved its growth forecast for this year to 1%.
The chancellor blamed global instability, arguing that the world was “changing before our eyes” and promising a “new era of security and national renewal”.
The OBR painted a more upbeat picture of subsequent years, predicting growth will be higher than expected thanks, in part, to more housebuilding.
The Spring Statement was meant to be a routine update on the public finances but Reeves made more extensive changes after her plans were blown off course by lower growth and higher government borrowing costs.
Reeves used her statement to announce a further £2.2bn for defence, while a target has been set to reduce the administrative costs of government departments by 15% by 2030.
But speaking after the Budget was delivered on Wednesday, Burnham-On-Sea MP Ashley Fox said: “The OBR has confirmed what we all feared. The fallout from the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget means that growth has been cut in half.”
“Inflation, borrowing, debt, and unemployment, are all forecasted to be higher than before her disastrous economic policies. She could have reversed course today, but instead she’s doubled down on the same reckless decisions that brought us here in the first place.”
He pointed to the Autumn Budget as the turning point, when the Chancellor “broke her promises, introduced the Jobs Tax, piled up borrowing and destroyed growth.”
“It’s working families and local businesses who are paying the price for Labour’s mess – through higher prices in the shops, rising mortgage rates, and fewer job opportunities. This Budget does nothing to reassure the public or restore economic confidence.”
Ashley Fox says he will continue pressing for policies that reward hard work, support small businesses, and get Britain growing again.
