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Kemi Badenoch responds to Rachel Reeves\u2019s budget speech: \u201cIf she had any decency, she would resign\u201d<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Kemi Badenoch\u2019s blistering Commons rebuttal exposed the contradictions at the heart of Rachel Reeves\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s arguments were precisely dismantled in a move that left no doubt as to who the Conservatives\u2019 strongest Commons performer is. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis should be her last budget\u201d was the opening line, after which the Tory leader proceeded to reel off an endless list of reversals and broken promises that left Reeves\u2019s second budget in tatters on the floor. <\/p>\n
\u2022 Budget 2025: follow the latest updates<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cLast year she put up taxes by \u00a340 billion, the biggest tax raid in British history,\u201d Badenoch declared. \u201cShe swore it was a one-off. Today, she has broken every single one of those promises. If she had any decency, she would resign.\u201d<\/p>\n Badenoch didn\u2019t pull any punches as she questioned Reeves\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n She delivered what will surely be the immortal line, \u201ca smorgasbord of misery\u201d, and summed it up as \u201ca budget for Benefits Street paid for by working people\u201d. A jab designed to articulate what many voters feel, but which rarely gets acknowledged by politicians \u2014 exasperation with a system that punishes hard work and diligence, and prizes dependency. <\/p>\n \u2022 Ben Wilkinson: Of all the attacks on the middle class, this was the worst<\/a><\/p>\n 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. \u201cTax after tax,\u201d she said, each word a further nail in Labour\u2019s coffin of credibility. <\/p>\n Then came a defining moment. Turning to her own MPs, she called: \u201cWhat have we got?\u201d The benches called back: \u201cWelfare spending \u2014 up! Universal credit claimants \u2014 up! Debt interest \u2014 up! Inflation \u2014 up! Growth \u2014 down! Business confidence \u2014 down!\u201d<\/p>\n This thunderous response dissolved Reeves\u2019s elaborate fiscal plans into a few unflattering truths. And it didn\u2019t 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. <\/p>\n 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 \u00a33 billion to the welfare bill.<\/p>\n \u201cEven Labour voters know that it strikes the right balance between supporting people who are struggling and protecting taxpayers who are struggling themselves.\u201d <\/p>\n 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 \u201ctenants will be the ones who suffer\u201d.<\/p>\n