‘David Cameron, George Osborne, austerity, Brexit, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss. It was an unmitigated 14-year disaster.’
Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South, schooled former minister Kevin Hollinrake on the Tory government’s failures after he tried to claim Rachel Reeves is responsible for the UK’s slow economic growth.
Hollinrake, who is now shadow housing secretary, rejected the idea that global headwinds and the record Labour inherited from the Tories have left the UK economy in a bad state.
He said that “What has destroyed growth, which is the number one mission of this government is Rachel Reeves, she has spent six months talking the economy down.”
“Then [delivered] a budget which whacked businesses with £25 billion a year in tax,” he said. Hollinrake also criticised the Employment Rights Bill, as it will create more regulation.
Newsnight host Victoria Derbyshire pointed out that the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasted nearly identical growth, 1.8% a year for the next four years under Jeremy Hunt and 1.7% a year over four years under Reeves.
Hollinrake said the OBR’s growth forecast will be downgraded after the spring statement today “due to Rachel Reeves’ choices”.
Lewis struggled to keep a straight face as Hollinrake said if he was in power now, he’d reverse “everything Rachel Reeves has done”.
“I’m smiling because for about three micro seconds you did sound like you were convincing yourself,” Lewis responded.
The Norwich South MP hit back: “I mean you think about your 14 year record. You know David Cameron, George Osborne, Austerity, Brexit, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, sclerotic investment in our economy. It was an unmitigated 14-year disaster that was handed to a Labour government.”
He continued: “You keep talking about growth but whose growth was it? Because my constituents […] they didn’t experience that growth.”
“It’s the growth of the wealthiest, of the 1%, […] we’ve got a bloated wealthy sector, one of the most unequal countries in the G7, that’s what your legacy is,” he added.
Hollinrake said that the UK is the fourth largest exporter in the world, up from seventh before 2010, the UK has had the third fastest rate of growth in the G7 since 2010, and is the second largest exporter of services in the world.
“As Reagan said, if you’re explaining you’re losing, and you lost at the last election, big time,” Lewis responded, adding that the growth that Hollinrake talks about means nothing to the majority of the public.
“One of the reasons I think why we’re seeing the rise of Trumpism, the rise of the AfD, the rise of Nigel Farage, is because people are saying nothing is changes, our lives don’t seem to be getting better,” Lewis said.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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