‘Sending us back to the 1970s!’ Esther McVey in furious clash with Labour MP over ‘ridiculous’ taxes

Conservative MP Esther McVey has accused the Labour Government of “sending us back to the 70s” following Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Budget announcement in October.

After a series of tax rises, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has come under fire after promising ambitious climate targets on the world stage.

Speaking at the Cop29 conference in Azerbaijan, Starmer said that the UK has an “opportunity to get ahead” when it comes to climate, and that Britain is “building our reputation as a climate leader”.

Discussing the government’s intentions for the UK economically, McVey hit out at the “ridiculous” tax rises for Britons, despite huge promises for foreign aid and net zero.

Scolding the government’s decision to prioritise foreign aid and net zero, McVey told GB News: “Can we sort out what we need to in our own country? Can we look after our own people in our own country?

“The fact that Labour is saying we’re going to take winter fuel payments away from 10 million of our own pensioners, yet let’s put money to foreign aid and let’s put money into net zero is an absolute nonsense.”

Analysing the Budget and its tax rises, McVey said the Office for Budget and Responsibility (OBR) has reduced the figures for economic growth following the announcement.

McVey stated: “The OBR has now just reduced what the country’s economic growth is going to be, because of the ridiculous Budget that’s come through.

“You are taxing working people, even though at the general election you said 50 times we will not be taxing our working people. So I think Labour does need to reanalyze where it’s spending its money, because it’s not spending it on its British people.”

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Hitting back at McVey, Labour MP Jake Richards argued that the Conservatives “wasted billions” on foreign aid after 14 years in power.

Richards claimed: “The problem people like Esther have, I’m afraid, is that the Tories have just come out of government after 14 years where they’ve wasted billions of pounds of foreign aid, where taxes went up.

“We don’t really know what the Conservative Party is about anymore. We had David Cameron and George Osborne, who were internationalists, we had Boris Johnson’s have your cake and eat it approach.

“We then had Theresa May’s paralysis of Brexit and Rishi Sunak at the end saying ‘we’re going to cut foreign aid’, but was confused about what he wanted to do.”

In disagreement with Richards, McVey hit back and recalled how the Conservatives had “reduced unemployment” and improved the economy, which Labour are now “destroying”.

McVey explained: “They fixed the economy, which Labour had crashed as well. They also got unemployment down and employment up.

“And now we’re going to have to do the same again, because you’re destroying the country and sending us back to the 1970s. That’s what Labour’s doing with that Budget.”