‘Are small business owners not working people?!’ MPs in fiery GB News clash over Autumn Budget
A fiery clash erupted on GB News today between Labour MP Lucy Rigby and Conservative MP Andrew Bowie, following the heated exchange between Angela Rayner and Oliver Dowden at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Rigby defended the Chancellor’s approach, emphasising the importance of following proper procedures, including consultation with the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Bowie, however, expressed concerns about potential tax rises and their impact on small businesses.
He highlighted worries about the recently announced Employment Rights Bill and its potential to add “billions to the cost of doing business in the country”.
Speaking on GB News, Rigby explained: “We were really clear in the manifesto. We said no taxes on working people.
“And your viewers know what working people are – they’re people that go out and work for a living.”
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Bowie fired back: “So are small business owners not working people then?”
Rigby responded: “GB News viewers know what working people are.”
This exchange echoed the earlier clash between Rayner and Dowden at PMQs, where Dowden had pressed Rayner to define “working people” in light of Labour’s manifesto pledge.
Labour’s election manifesto said the party would not increase taxes on working people and included a commitment not to increase national insurance, income tax or VAT.
Starmer has previously said the Government is “going to keep our manifesto pledges”, amid speculation that Chancellor Rachel Reeves will increase employers’ national insurance contributions.
At PMQ’s Dowden asked Rayner: “There are five million small business owners in this country. Are they working people?”
Rayner replied: “I don’t know how the shadow deputy prime minister can stand there with a straight face when it was the small businesses, the working people of this country, that paid the price for them crashing the economy, and sending interest rates soaring.”
The Chancellor is set to release the Autumn Budget next week, with many worried about the impact on their finances.
Much of Labour’s plans are still relatively unknown, as the party has so far been tight-lipped on its tax plans.
Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrats’ deputy leader, asked Rayner to confirm that if there is an increase in national insurance contributions by employers it will not affect small care providers and access to care.
Rayner said the Budget will be one that “recognises that the working people of this country and the enterprise in this country have been hard hit by the 14 years of Conservatives”.