Rachel Reeves accused of ‘overlooking obvious Budget win’ as Lib Dem MP tears into policy

Expressing his frustration, Mr Aquarone told Political Correspondent Olivia Utley: “I’m really aghast that that obvious win was overlooked by the Chancellor today, it’s really frustrating.

“Just like our policies to cut the impact of energy bills on households, this would have been hundreds of pounds a year within the next few years, overlooked. And yet that would have made a massive difference to people’s household budgets.”

Asked for the Liberal Democrats verdict on the Budget as a whole, he revealed: “I and my party are just exasperated, like so many people out there will be today.

“Labour was elected on a promise to grow the economy and tackle the cost of living crisis. And they’ve not only not done that for the second Budget in a row, but they fail to listen to some really practical ways that they could have done it without placing an increased tax burden on working people.”

Admitting the statement was “far from a Liz Truss Budget”, he added: “Well, let’s be clear, this was far from a Liz Truss Budget, so there is some comfort in a degree of predictability.

“And of course, part of that has been the unprecedented amount of leaking that’s been going on right up until 40 minutes before the Chancellor took to her feet.”

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Warning of Labour’s “stealth tax” by freezing thresholds, the MP explained: “But this keeping of the tax thresholds is a stealth tax.

“It means that as inflation goes up, and even if inflation isn’t going up, as prices go up and wages go up, you’re still spending, paying more and more tax on a higher proportion of your income.

“So in reality it’s a tax rise for most people, and that’s a real problem because most people I speak to in North Norfolk are really struggling.”

Pressed by Olivia on whether the Chancellor should resign, he responded: “I think that we’re on an absolute sort of wafer-margin of whether the manifesto pledges have been broken or not.

“I would rather be talking about measures that would have created tax receipts without taxing working people, and have done something to tackle the cost of living crisis and the crisis that’s going on in our high streets.”

Backing the announcement of the scrap to the two-child benefit cap, Mr Aquarone told GB News: “We’ve long called for this, and it’s come a year later than I would have expected from a Labour Government.

“I know people have got opinions about family planning, but it’s absolutely clear to me that you can’t help children by punishing their parents.”

He stated: “So whatever you feel about people and about the cost of the welfare bill, and don’t forget that most of our welfare spending rightly goes on paying the state pension, it’s not right, it’s not fair.

“And it costs more in the long term to be punishing the children of families that can’t afford to feed and heat, and clothe their children.”

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Grilled by Olivia on whether he “genuinely thinks that a Lib Dem Government could have managed the Budget without increasing taxes on working people”, Mr Aquarone responded: “I genuinely do because of the big thing which this Chancellor left out of this budget, which was the chance to bring in tens of billions of pounds of extra tax revenue into the UK and save hundreds of millions of pounds from the cost of businesses doing business.

“And that’s getting a better deal with the European Union. This might be controversial with some of your viewers, but I think the vast majority of people in my constituency who voted Brexit, whether or not they regret it, recognise that they didn’t vote for this Boris Johnson Brexit with a deal that’s barely worthy of that name.

“And we believe that it’s in everybody’s interest for us to be looking at re-entering the customs union. And it would genuinely bring in billions of pounds to the UK exchequer.

“I think that rejoining the customs union would be the answer to many of our financial problems in this country at the moment.”