Massive spikes in Britain’s national debt under Rachel Reeves could have funded the boost Britain’s defences desperately need, the Conservatives have claimed.
Reeves accused of unforgivable profligacy (Image: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA Wire)
Massive spikes in Britain’s national debt under Rachel Reeves could have funded the boost Britain’s defences desperately need, the Conservatives have claimed.
New analysis shows the surge in borrowing costs on the Chancellor’s watch is nearly the same as the amount Britain needs to meet its NATO commitments.
Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride MP tore into Ms Reeves, who is widely expected to be out of the job within weeks, accusing her of “unforgivable profligacy”.
He said: “The legacy of Rachel Reeves as Chancellor is one of unforgivable profligacy. Debt interest is continuing to soar on her watch, thanks to reckless borrowing and high inflation.”
The Tory money man said every pound wasted servicing Britain’s ballooning borrowing was money that “could have gone to other priorities, such as the urgent need to boost defence spending where Labour have utterly failed to meet their commitments.”
Conservatives say the annual debt interest bill will be some £24billion bigger by the end of this Parliament than it was before Ms Reeves delivered her first tax-hiking Budget.
Sir Mel also took aim at the state of the public finances, warning: “The bond markets are charging us more to borrow than any other G7 country – in fact, more than countries like Greece and Morocco.”
Speaking to the BBC he added Ms Reeves had borrowed “about a quarter of a trillion pounds […] across the Parliament”, leaving behind a “low growth economy that is very fragile”.
The onslaught came as the Chancellor defended her record, claiming Britain was better off now than when she started.
Stride: Debt interest soaring on Reeves’s watch (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster)
But the Tories claim she has done “untold damage” to firms during her time in No11, accusing her of piling on taxes and strangling growth.
Ms Reeves, however, mounted a robust defence of her record. She insisted she had “delivered quite radical change” and had restored “credibility to the economy, and to Labour’s economic policy”.
The Chancellor said the next Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, would “take over an economy that is much stronger than the one I inherited from the Conservatives”.
She also insisted pensioners were “better off after two years of this Labour government”, despite her Budget having dragged many pensioners into tax for the first time.
But Sir Mel warned little would change under a Burnham-led Labour Party, saying Mr Burnham “clearly is going to lean more into tax, more into borrowing”.