Kemi Badenoch responds to Rachel Reeves’s budget speech: “If she had any decency, she would resign”
PA
Kemi Badenoch’s blistering Commons rebuttal exposed the contradictions at the heart of Rachel Reeves’s budget.
For more than an hour, Reeves held the Commons floor, delivering a budget that raised more in tax than any in living memory. But her glory was short-lived, as the moment she sat down and Badenoch took to the floor, the chancellor’s arguments were precisely dismantled in a move that left no doubt as to who the Conservatives’ strongest Commons performer is.
“This should be her last budget” was the opening line, after which the Tory leader proceeded to reel off an endless list of reversals and broken promises that left Reeves’s second budget in tatters on the floor.
• Budget 2025: follow the latest updates
“Last year she put up taxes by £40 billion, the biggest tax raid in British history,” Badenoch declared. “She swore it was a one-off. Today, she has broken every single one of those promises. If she had any decency, she would resign.”
Badenoch didn’t pull any punches as she questioned Reeves’s moral standpoint amid a wave of political theatre. Her case was simple. This was a budget that taxes work and rewards welfare, one that burdens families striving to get ahead while shielding those who choose not to.
She delivered what will surely be the immortal line, “a smorgasbord of misery”, and summed it up as “a budget for Benefits Street paid for by working people”. A jab designed to articulate what many voters feel, but which rarely gets acknowledged by politicians — exasperation with a system that punishes hard work and diligence, and prizes dependency.
• Ben Wilkinson: Of all the attacks on the middle class, this was the worst
Badenoch argued that Reeves could have chosen to implement cuts to welfare spending or helped to encourage investment, but instead piled new levies on income, property, pensions and business. “Tax after tax,” she said, each word a further nail in Labour’s coffin of credibility.
Then came a defining moment. Turning to her own MPs, she called: “What have we got?” The benches called back: “Welfare spending — up! Universal credit claimants — up! Debt interest — up! Inflation — up! Growth — down! Business confidence — down!”
This thunderous response dissolved Reeves’s elaborate fiscal plans into a few unflattering truths. And it didn’t end there. Badenoch went on to accuse the chancellor of breaking yet another promise: extending the income-tax band freeze, a stealth tax that will hurt thousands of households across the country.
While her delivery elicited laughter and applause from those present, there was an underlying warning about welfare. Scrapping the two-child benefit cap, she said, would add £3 billion to the welfare bill.
“Even Labour voters know that it strikes the right balance between supporting people who are struggling and protecting taxpayers who are struggling themselves.”
This last line was not without merit, as many households face higher tax bills during a cost of living crisis. She went further. Hiking taxes on landlords, she argued, would only push up rents and “tenants will be the ones who suffer”.
• How will the new salary sacrifice changes affect you?
Behind all the barbs and chuckles at the chancellor’s expense sits an argument about control, or rather, lack of it. Badenoch accuses the Labour government of having no control over borrowing, on welfare, and on the message we are sending to international investors. “There is no growth and no plan,” she said. “Just look at the circus around this budget. She’s become the first chancellor in history to release the whole thing ahead of time.”
The Commons may have laughed at her last line, but there is little doubt that the circus surrounding this budget has caused irreparable damage. The constant leaks, shifting messages and lack of coherence have quietened confidence in a party that appears to be chasing headlines.
There is little doubt in my mind that this was Badenoch at her best — fluent, crisp, confident and appealing to the millions of Brits who will be wondering why, after all the talk of cuts to the cost of living, are today feeling poorer.
Antonia Medlicott is the founder of the personal finance site Investing Insiders
Register today for The Times Wealth Management Forum on Wednesday, December 3. Join journalists from The Times and Sunday Times and expert speakers as they discuss what the budget means for you and how to improve your financial security