Rachel Reeves’s Spring Statement has been dismantled by a UK landlord, following her claims that the Labour Government is providing “growth and stability”.
Speaking to GB News, the owner of Old Thatch pub in Wimborne, Dorset, declared that the Chancellor’s claims are “beyond him”.
Delivering her statement in the House of Commons this afternoon, Ms Reeves said Labour’s economic plan is “the right one”.
The Chancellor told the Commons: “I am in no doubt about Britain’s ability to navigate the challenges we face.
“The plan that I have been driving forward since the election is the right one, stability in our public finances, investment in our infrastructure and reform to Britain’s economy.”
Criticising her failure to mention the hospitality and agricultural sectors, Mr Lennox told GB News: “Well, it wasn’t s shock really, but it didn’t seem to be very much talk of anything, actually in fact.
“We didn’t expect them to announce VAT right now, but what we did expect them to do was show that they understood what was going on at the moment.”
Stressing that more than 30 pubs were forced to close in just one day on Monday, Mr Lennox took issue with Ms Reeves’s suggestion that “everything is fine” in her statement.
Landlord Andy Lennox has hit out at Rachel Reeves’s Spring Statement, declaring there is ‘no stability’
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PARLIAMENT TV / GB NEWS
He stated: “Against a backdrop of when you’ve just lost 36 pubs yesterday, 500 jobs, to say that everything’s fine and to say that the budget is going the right way and everything they’re doing is correct, it’s just beyond me, really.
“So we didn’t expect them to do anything, and we’re going to keep on pushing.
“But it’s really, really frustrating that they are saying that everything is all right when actually the volatility in the industry is just enormous.”
Criticising Ms Reeves’s lack of support further, Mr Lennox drew comparison to the former hospitality giant BrewDog, which has also been forced to shut down completely.
He explained: “There’s no stability at all at the moment. We’re sitting against a backdrop of enormous amounts of taxation, all of the things that basically went into the budget, in the first budget, and in the second budget still haven’t been fixed.
Rachel Reeves says Labour’s plan is the ‘right one’ during her Spring Statement
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POOL
“And you’ve got about 36 places going bust every single day. BrewDog, a company once valued at nearly £1billion, went bust yesterday for £33million.
“And 36 pubs closed in total, with 500 job losses, and that’s going on every single day at the moment.”
He made clear: “So to talk about stability is just ridiculous really, and it’s just frustrating that you’ve got this platform to be able to do something, and it just shows you how out of touch they are.”
Ms Reeves told MPs in her statement: “This Government has the right economic plan for our country… in a world that has become yet more uncertain.
Mr Lennox told GB News that it is ‘ridiculous’ to assume there is ‘stability’ in the economy
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GB NEWS
“Stability in the public finances, investment in infrastructure and reform to our economy.
“Building growth not on the contribution of a few people or a few parts of the country, but in every part of Britain with a state that doesn’t stand back, but steps up.”
She added: “It is Labour and only Labour that has the right plan for our country.
“I know that an economy cannot be working if it is only delivering for a few people in a few places.”