On Monday, Richard responded to a statement in the House of Commons on the Chancellor's speech on economic growth. You can watch his response on behalf of the Opposition at https://youtu.be/aonzMRNZPMc?si=u6HBDCES46LH0CN_
Richard Fuller MP said:
The Starmer/Reeves melancholic double act did enormous damage by talking down the economy ahead of the first two Labour budgets of this Parliament. That said, Chancellor Healey's 'Don't worry, be happy' approach will make no difference if he ignores the very real issues facing this country - surging government borrowing costs, rising inflation, a welfare bill that's out of control and utterly unsustainable, sky high energy costs crippling business and unprecedented levels of tax and regulation on businesses resulting in huge job losses and stalling investment.
John Healey was considered a man of great integrity when he resigned his post as Defence Secretary because the Starmer government refused to commit to properly funding our armed forces. That reputation is now in tatters as he now has the power to provide that support but instead, is in hock to his new boss Prime Minister Burnham who astonishingly believes that social security is as important as the nation's security.
Long-term government borrowing is at its highest level this century and yet Labour plough ahead with borrowing more and more money - £500 billion in this Parliament.
Sadly their determination to throw ever greater amounts into the welfare budget will bankrupt the country before they develop an iota of fiscal prudence!
And disgracefully, Andy Burnham has now said himself in PMQs this week that national security 'can't come at the expense of social security' while refusing to set out a plan to reach defence spending of 3 per cent of GDP.
Last week Kemi Badenoch set out the Conservative Party's plan to cut welfare and make savings to boost defence spending by £10 billion, enabling us to reach our 3 per cent target by 2029–30.
Richard added:
The first duty of every Government is to defend the country. Andy Burnham came to office with no plan for how to fund our defence and no idea what to do about the out-of-control welfare bill. Kemi set out our plans to reach 3 per cent on defence spending by the end of this Parliament through further cuts to welfare and restoring the two-child benefit cap.
I am continually stunned by the hubris of John Healey who resigned from Keir Starmer’s government because the Government wouldn't fund the 3 per cent commitment on defence. Now he is the Chancellor he won't fund the 3 per cent either!
