Kemi Badenoch has delivered a brutal assessment of Rachel Reeves as the Chancellor is poised to make another major U-turn on tax.
Speaking to GB News, the Conservative leader hit out at the Labour Government for “hammering” Britain’s pubs amid a reversal of the latest set of hospitality tax hikes.
GB News understands that Chancellor Rachel Reeves is preparing to U-turn on her plans to axe business tax relief for parts of the hospitality industry in a much-needed win for Britain’s pubs.
Delivering her verdict on the U-turn, Mrs Badenoch told GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope: “Labour MPs have come back from Christmas break where they were banned from every single pub in the country, and they suddenly realised that people don’t like them. That’s why they’re pushing for this U-turn.
“Conservatives saw this as soon as it happened. Remember my Budget speech and I talked about how Rachel had done absolutely nothing for pubs? Well, the chickens have come home to roost.”
Advocating for British pubs, Mrs Badenoch stressed: “Anyone who is an MP in a rural constituency especially knows that pubs are the lifeblood of so many towns and villages, as well as cities. Some of them have been there for hundreds of years.
“We don’t want to see them disappear. We’ve already lost most butchers in villages and towns, the bakers, most places now just have a pub and a church. We’ve got to do what we can to protect them.”
Grilled on her own plan to save Britain’s pubs, the Tory leader said: “I’m sick of seeing high streets with boarded up shops and empty pubs. We have a cheap power plan to bring down energy bills. I know I’m not wearing my coat, but it is absolutely freezing.
Mrs Badenoch took aim at Rachel Reeves as Labour is poised to U-turn on pub tax hikes
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GB NEWS
“Energy bills are skyrocketing, and our cheap power plan will bring down pubs energy bills by about £1,000.
“But we also have a plan to abolish business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure.
“So basically abolishing business rates on the high street where it’s under £110,000. That’s how you get Britain working again.”
Pressed on how her plan would be funded, Mrs Badenoch told GB News: “We pay for it with our £47billion of savings. Obviously we’re going to spend that on other things, including paying down the deficit.
“But we’ve got a golden economic rule where we find savings and then we use them for tax cuts and paying down the deficit. Let’s bring public spending under control.”
Expressing concern for other businesses within the hospitality sector, the Tory leader said: “The thing about what Labour is doing is that it’s not enough. This isn’t just pubs, what about the restaurants? What about the hotels?
A Labour minster has claimed there will be a ‘U-turn on pubs’ when it comes to the Chancellor’s business tax relief plans
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GETTY / PA“Do we have to ban Labour MPs from every restaurant in the country before they see sense? Pubs are special, they are part of our country’s tradition. We love pubs. We want to see them carry on from strength to strength and they have been hammered.”
She continued: “When we were in Government, we tried to help them during Covid with that relief that Labour are scrapping.
“There is a lot that we can do and we must continue to do to keep pubs working again.”
Asked why GB News viewers should “trust” her on dealing with and supporting pubs, Mrs Badenoch responded: “Well, I’m not here to say that everything was perfect under Conservatives because it wasn’t. But as you said, that wasn’t under my leadership. I’ve got a plan.
“We did do some things, like with the Covid relief, for instance, but we need to make sure that we do more.
“We try to help them by making it cheaper to drink in a pub than just go to the supermarket, for example. There’s a lot more that we can do.”
Mrs Badenoch told GB News that the Conservatives are the ‘only party’ to ‘take on Labour properly’
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GB NEWS
Asked for her verdict on the Conservatives rising in the polls, Mrs Badenoch declared that they are the “only party” that can “take on Labour properly”.
She told GB News: “There’s still a long road ahead. Remember when I told you the last oppositions were 14, 13, 18 years? We’ve been in opposition 18 months.
“But I think people can already see that while we made mistakes, Labour has made everything worse.
“We are the only party that can take on Labour properly and still be competent enough and tough enough to get things right.”