𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Chancellor Rachel Reeves was “raising taxes to pay for welfare” in the Budget and “should resign”.

The Chancellor has come under fire for misleading the public over the state of the nation’s finances in the run-up to her fiscal statement on Wednesday.

Mrs Badenoch told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: “The Chancellor called an emergency press conference telling everyone about how terrible the state of the finances were and now we have seen that the OBR had told her the complete opposite.

“She was raising taxes to pay for welfare.

“The only thing that was unfunded was the welfare payments which she has made and she’s doing it on the backs of a lot of people out there who are working very hard and getting poorer.

“And because of that, I believe she should resign.”

Ms Badenoch added: “The shadow chancellor Mel Stride has written to the FCA.

“Hopefully there will be an investigation, because it looks like what she was doing was trying to pitch-roll her budget – tell everyone how awful it would be and then they wouldn’t be as upset when she finally announced it – and still sneak in those tax rises to pay for welfare.

“That’s not how we should be running this process. We need people to have confidence in our system, in what the Chancellor is going to announce.”

Mrs Badenoch also used the show to defend her response to the Budget and said her “job is to hold the Government to account, not to provide emotional support for the Chancellor”.

Asked whether she went too far in her response to the Budget and criticisms of Ms Reeves, Ms Badenoch told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I remember last year’s Budget – Rachel Reeves took a swipe at me, I wasn’t even Leader of the Opposition then – she’s forgotten now.

“I remember when Rachel Reeves was out there calling Rishi Sunak a liar. I remember when they were all calling Liz Truss a lettuce.

“But now it’s them and I’m merely talking about her competence. They can’t take it. They like to dish it, but they can’t take it.

“My job is to hold the Government to account, not to provide emotional support for the Chancellor and the people out there wanted someone to tell her she was doing a bad job, and I had to make sure that I got that message across.”

Ms Badenoch added: “I don’t care whether people misbehave at the despatch box. What I care about is whether or not I’m doing a good job.

“She should care about whether or not she’s doing a good job – she’s doing a terrible job.”