Catherine Atkinson has launched a scathing attack on Robert Jenrick after setting out his economic plan for Britain under a Reform UK Government.
Speaking to GB News, the Labour MP for Derby North accused the newly appointed Reform Shadow Chancellor of being the “poster child” for “what not to do in Government”.
During a keynote speech in the City of London today, the former Tory MP vowed to tackle Britain’s ballooning benefits bill.
He declared: “Reform will defuse the benefits bomb set to bankrupt Britain. We are developing the most comprehensive plan for welfare reform in British politics, which we will set out in the months ahead.
“We will stop those with mild anxiety, depression, and similar conditions from claiming disability benefits and instead encourage them into the dignity of work.
“We will reinstate in-person assessments and require clinical diagnoses to weed out those who are choosing a life on benefits.
“We will end the abuse of the Motability scheme, where expensive cars are handed out for conditions like tennis elbow, and paid for by working people who can’t afford those cars themselves. We’ll make sure only British nationals can claim benefits in the first place.”
Delivering her verdict on GB News, Ms Atkinson said: “I think the frustration many people will feel is you do not hire the man that crashed the car to then fix the car.
“And I think no matter how many Tory MPs or former Tory MPs that Farage brings to surround himself with, I think people remember where that failure occurred.
“Jenrick, like Farage, fully backed Truss’s budget, a budget that sent mortgages spiralling, many of whom many people are still feeling the effects of that. He was a health minister that saw waiting lists skyrocket.”
Catherine Atkinson has hit out at Robert Jenrick’s economic policy
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PA / GB NEWS
She added: “He was a migration minister that opened the migrant hotels, which we are now trying to close, and he was a Treasury minister at a time when when we suffered the worst cost of living crisis.
“So I think Jenrick is the poster child for what not to do in Government, and they’ve made him a spokesperson for the economy.”
Highlighting the absence of two key roles within the Reform UK Shadow Cabinet, the Labour MP argued: “What makes me really cross with the announcements around their new spokespeople is that there is no one for defence and there is no one for the NHS, and I think that people who serve in our armed forces and people who work for our NHS should be hearing loud and clear that Reform clearly don’t think that our defence or the NHS are important.
“What I think is really important is to look at what Reform are doing in local Government, because while we had so many promises about cutting taxes and cutting waste, what we’ve seen when they are actually in charge is council taxes going up to the max, and they’re not cutting waste.
Robert Jenrick confirmed Reform will bring back the two-child benefit cap
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PA“They’re closing care homes in here in Derbyshire, they’re not finding ways of becoming more efficient, they’re closing and cutting adult education, so I do think that people need to look at what they’re actually doing, rather than just listening to what they promise they’ll do in future.”
Taking aim at one particular policy announced by Mr Jenrick, Ms Atkinson said his plan to reinstate the two-child benefit cap is “just like the Tories”.
She told GB News: “He said very clearly he’s going to go back to the Tory policy of the two-child cap, and when two thirds of families who are supported by that when that is lifted are in work, that is Reform again saying that just like the Tories, they want to make sure that the children are hungry again rather than doing what this Government is doing and lifting half a million children out of poverty.”
Pressing the Labour MP on whether Britons will be seeing cuts to their taxes in the near future, she responded: “Well, it was the unfunded tax cut promises that Truss brought in that sent everyone’s mortgages spiralling, so I think we’ve been very light on the kind of detail that Jenrick said he didn’t want to get into.
Ms Atkinson told GB News that he is the ‘poster child’ for what ‘not to do in Government’
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GB NEWS
“I think that is where people’s minds will go when they again start hearing about promises, about tax cuts.
“But what’s essential is that we do tackle the cost of living, and that is what’s absolutely front and centre for this Government.”
She explained: “I think that the reason that we were so determined to ensure that people didn’t see tax rises in their payslips, is because we want to ensure that they’ve got pounds in their pockets to be able to spend in our high streets and in local economies.
“So I think that that is absolutely essential, but what’s also essential is ensuring that we have the money to fund as well as reform our NHS, and that’s something that Reform don’t seem to be talking about at all.
“And they can’t even be bothered to announce a health spokesperson, let alone anything that’s going to ensure that we see the NHS invested in and reformed so it’s fit for the future.
“But maybe it’s because they all seem very relaxed about an insurance based system.”