Viewers tuning in to watch Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s first Budget were left infuriated by comments made by the Labour Party.
Rachel Reeves revealed her first Budget on Wednesday. (Image: BBC)
BBC and ITV viewers have been left raging after tuning in to watch Chancellor Rachel Reeves deliver Labour’s first Budget since 2010.
With mounting fears about tax hikes and increasing bills, some viewers were offended by the Labour Party’s jovial comments in the House of Commons on Wednesday (October 30).
One furious viewer tweeted: “I’ve had to walk away from the TV for the sake of my blood pressure. What a disgusting display of chumminess and bon homie, eh? After yesterday’s revelations on the Southport murders and what’s to come in this horrendous budget. All are a national disgrace. #PMQs.”
Another echoed: “Of all the days to be laughing and joking at #PMQs. The whole lot of them need to go. The whole lot.”
A third said: “Is anyone else finding the really chummy behaviour and silly jokes in bad taste right now? People are terrified of what is going to be in the Budget and they’re having a laugh…#PMQs.”
Viewers slammed jovial comments made by the Labour Party at PMQs. (Image: BBC)
In her Budget, the Chancellor said she will hike taxes by £40 billion to “fix the foundations” of the economy and repair the public finances and promised to “invest, invest, invest”.
Ms Reeves claimed the scale of the public spending problems she inherited were worse than previously thought and said the “black hole” left by the Conservatives required tens of billions of additional taxes.
Ms Reeves also promised to set aside £11.8 billion to compensate those affected by the infected blood scandal and £1.8 billion to compensate victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal.
The Chancellor said: “Together, the black hole in our public finances this year, which recurs every year, the compensation payments which they did not fund and their failure to assess the scale of the challenges facing our public services means this Budget raises taxes by £40 billion.
“Any Chancellor standing here today would face this reality. And any responsible Chancellor would take action. That is why today, I am restoring stability to our public finances and rebuilding our public services.”
Rachel Reeves appeared with the famous red box outside 11 Downing Street. (Image: PA)
Ms Reeves confirmed a £25 billion raid on employers’ national insurance contributions, with higher rates and a lower starting threshold.
The rate will increase by 1.2 percentage points to 15 percent from April 2025, with payments starting when an employee earns £5,000, down from the current £9,100. “I know that this is a difficult choice. I do not take this decision lightly,” Ms Reeves said.
The Chancellor announced a £2.5 billion increase in the capital gains tax by increasing the lower rate from 10 percent to 18 percent and the higher rate from 20 percent to 24 percent.
She also confirmed changes to inheritance tax, including bringing pension pots within the with tax from April 2027 and reforms to agricultural and business property reliefs, raising a total of £2 billion a year.
Follow the latest updates from Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Autumn Budget here.
