'Going on about the Tories AGAIN!' Andrew Pierce brutally shuts down Labour MP's defence of Rachel Reeves

Delivering a speech today ahead of her fiscal statement, the Chancellor said she will "make the choices necessary" to deliver strong foundations for our economy for "years to come."

She said: "My opponents will tell you that they could do more. Reform promised savings from our public services.

"And yet in Kent County Council, and councils they run across Britain, apparently they can’t find a single penny and instead plan to increase council tax on more than two million people."

Asked by Andrew Pierce "what the point was" of the Chancellor's pre-Budget speech, Mr Pinto-Duschinsky explained: "Obviously the Budget will be in three weeks time, but I think the Chancellor wanted to set out both the circumstances that we face, but also the principles that will undergird her Budget, a Budget fundamentally for fairness.

"And I think you heard a three big points coming out. Firstly, she will act to protect the NHS, to protect our public services.

"Secondly, she'll act to protect families from the cost of living and particularly from high interest rates and high inflation.

"And thirdly, she'll protect the public finances, because that long term and building that stability is how we get out of the cycle of national decline that the Conservatives left us in."

Hitting back at the Labour MP, host Miriam Cates stated that the Chancellor's Budget is simply offering "a more equal share of a shrinking pie when what she should be offering is growth", asking: "How could you make this economy more fair without taxing the rich out of existence?"

Mr David Pinto-Duschinsky responded: "To correct you, that's exactly what we are offering.

"When we took over, the growth rate over the previous five years had been the second lowest in the G7.

"Now it's in the first half of this year the highest, as a result of the steps this Government has taken.

"The picture you're trying to paint, it's simply not true. But look, what is true is that people feel stuck, and that's absolutely right.

"And that's why we are acting to break this cycle of national decline, to bring forward national renewal and bring the change that people want."

Highlighting Ms Reeves's blame on the Tories for the state of the economy, Andrew pointed out: "She blamed the pandemic, she blamed the Tories, she blamed Liz Truss, she blamed all sorts of things.

"She never once conceded that the huge increase in public spending she announced in her first Budget, the increase in National insurance, and I suspect we're going to get another breach of the manifesto on November 26.

"She didn't concede that any of that had an impact on inflation, growth or productivity?"

Mr Pinto-Duschinsky hit back: "Under this Government, the relative growth performance of this economy has improved dramatically.

"But let's be honest and paint the picture of where Britain is right, under the Conservatives..."

Andrew angrily interjected, fuming: "Going on about the Tories again, David! Why don't we talk about the last 18 months of Labour?"

The Labour MP argued: "For the last 18 months, we've been trying to clean up over a decade of mess left by the Conservatives.

"Under them, we had the second slowest overall growth in the G7. We were also left with $2.6trillion of national debt and we were left on the path to decline.

"Now what the Chancellor will set out on the 26th of this month is a blueprint for breaking out of that cycle of decline.

"And it's not going to be necessarily all easy answers, of course, there are difficult choices to be made, but they will be the right ones, and this Government will always put the right decisions ahead of political expediency."

He concluded: "That's exactly the kind of decision making this country needs. This Government is absolutely committed to investing to drive growth.

"And those are the measures you've seen over the previous 15 months since we've been in power, and it's made a real difference already."