Budget 2016: Labour brands the chancellor’s Budget a failure, claiming it is “built on sand”
The leader of the Labour opposition Jeremy Corbyn has criticised the chancellor George Osborne's 2016 Budget, labelling it as “the culmination of six years of failures.”
He described the economic recovery since the 2008 financial crisis as "built on sand, on a budget of failure".
Corbyn said:
He’s failed on the budget deficit, failed on debt, failed on investment, failed on productivity, failed on trade deficit, failed on the welfare cap, failed to tackle inequality in this country.
He went on to say the budget has "unfairness at its very core", and is "paid for by those who can least afford it".
He criticised George Osborne for offering “mates’ rates deals” to big corporations, saying: "The gulf between what the Conservative government expects from the wealthiest and what it demands from ordinary British taxpayers could not be greater. The mates’ rates deals for big corporations on tax deals is something they will be forever remembered for."
The Labour leader also criticised Osborne over plans for the so-called Northern Powerhouse, the NHS and house building.
Corbyn claimed that 80 per cent of public spending cuts had fallen on women.
On plans for schools becoming academies he said there was “not one shred of evidence” that turning schools into academies would boost performance.
The one change he supported however was the new sugar levy.
He said: "If we as a society cannot protect our children from high levels of sugar and all that goes with it with the later crisis of health, cancer and diabetes then as a House we have failed the nation."
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