Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride firmly rejected suggestions that the Conservative Party has become "irrelevant" during a tense exchange on GB News about Rachel Reeves' Spending Review.
The heated moment came when GB News host Stephen Dixon put to Stride that experts were saying the Spending Review was designed to counter Reform UK's threat, with the Tories now being "an irrelevance".
The Shadow Chancellor's emphatic denial came as he appeared on The Peoples Channel to discuss the Government's spending plans, which included a £39 billion boost for affordable housing and £15.6 billion for public transport projects.
He told GB News: "We're the official opposition. We were in there. I was the person up at the despatch box, holding Rachel Reeves to account yesterday.
Mel Stride said that the Conservative party are the "official opposition"
GB NEWS
"Amongst other recent things, of course, we've forced a U-turn on the Winter Fuel Payment means testing that the Government brought in. But look, overall, with this Spending Review, the question that needs to be asked is, where is the money coming from?
"It's all very well to say you're spending all this cash, left, right and centre. Well, the answer is it's coming by way of far higher taxes, particularly on businesses.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
"And that is destroying growth. And it's also come by way of huge levels of additional borrowing, which has been inflationary, which has meant interest rates have been higher for longer.
"Our national debt is growing, and the servicing costs of that debt, because of the higher interest rates, are now running at £100 billion per year.
"That's twice what we spend on defence. And that's leaving us overall in a very fragile position, with a lot of challenges ahead and a lot of people worried now that we're going to be looking at potentially very significant further tax rises in the autumn."
The Government's reversal on Winter Fuel Payments will now see the benefit paid to pensioners earning up to £35,000 annually, costing the Treasury approximately £1.25 billion.
WATCH: Rachel Reeves outlines the Government's Spending Review
The Spending Review, delivered by Reeves yesterday, included major commitments such as £11.5 billion for the Sizewell C nuclear project and increased funding for the NHS, defence and schools.
It also set out departmental budgets for the next three years and capital spending plans for four years, with Reeves arguing her priorities were "the priorities of working people".
Delivering the spending commitments, Reeves told MPs: "This is a Spending Review to deliver the priorities of the British people.
Rachel Reeves delivered the Spending Review yesterday
PA"Security, a strong Britain, in a changing world. Economic growth, powered by investment and opportunity in every part of Britain. And our nation’s health, with an NHS, fit for the future.
"I have made my choices. In place of chaos, I choose stability. In place of decline, I choose investment. In place of pessimism, division and defeatism...I choose national renewal.
"These are my choices. These are Labour’s choices. These are the choices of the British people."
Most Read
