'How about they look in the mirror?!' Martin Daubney launches full-blown attack on Labour over floundering economy

Economics professor at King's College London Jonathan Portes admitted that tax rises appear to be "inevitable" for two reasons.

He assigned blame on the rumoured productivity downgrade, as well as a "combination of factors", including Brexit and austerity led by the Tories.

"The other big factor, of course, is what we know is going to happen to our demographics. We're an ageing society. That means we need to spend more on things like health care and pensions," he told Martin.

Launching an impassioned tirade, Martin fired out: "We can blame Brexit. We can blame the Conservatives.

"We can blame Ukraine. We can blame Donald Trump. We can blame, I don't know, a comet striking from above.

"How about looking in the mirror and saying perhaps we've got things wrong?

"Perhaps having the highest tax hikes since World War Two already was a bad call. How about saying it was a bad call to give endless billions to the public sector?

"How about saying it was a bad call to give £22billion to carbon capture abroad? How about saying it was a bad call to give 30 plus billion pounds away on the Chagos Islands deal?

"How about accepting some responsibility for their own economic ineptitude?"

Responding, Mr Portes said: "Well, you asked about the productivity downgrade, and that very clearly is not down to the current Government. That's just a fact."

He further explained that the productivity growth rate reflects both Brexit and austerity, insisiting that there was"no point" in mentioning the Chagos.

Astounded, Martin hit back, saying: "Because we could use that money for other things, surely?

"Instead of doing a great giveaway, we could use that money, if we didn't throw money at the Chagos."

Mr Portes simply answered: "I have no particular view on the Chagos, but a few hundred million pounds a year isn't going to make much difference."

As it stands, Rachel Reeves is facing a larger-than-expected hole in the public finances as Britain's productivity performance is projected to take a staggering hit.

Ahead of next month's Budget, the Office for Budget Responsbility's (OBR) official forecast expects productivity to take a dive, which will complicate things for the Chancellor to plug the £20billion "black hole".

However, the Treasury has refused to comment on "speculation" before the Government body announces its final forecast on November 26.

The OBR is due to hand over its draft forecast to Whitehall officials on Friday.

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