Labour's Rachel Reeves has said voters won't be "taken for fools" as she insisted taxes will still be higher at the next election than they were five years ago.
Responding to Jeremy Hunt's Autumn Statement, the Shadow Chancellor said working people were "still worse off" due to Tory "economic recklessness". She said struggling families have been "skating on thin ice for too long" as she hit out at the Government for leaving the country "exposed" to the cost-of-living crisis.
She blasted: "Britain is and will be worse off under the Conservatives. They have held back growth, they have crashed the economy, increased debt, trashed public services, left businesses out in the cold, and made life harder for working people." Insisting the Tories' "time is up", Ms Reeves said: "Our country cannot afford five more years of the Conservatives."
Her comments came just minutes after the Tory Chancellor announced that national insurance would be cut for around 27million workers - saving the average worker £450 per year. But Ms Reeves hit back, saying: "From their failure to uprate income tax or national insurance bands, to forcing councils to raise council tax, the Conservatives have pushed the costs of their failure onto others. But the British people won't be taken for fools. They know that what has been announced today owes more to the cynicism of a party desperate to cling onto power than the real priorities of this high-tax, low-growth Conservative Government."
She added: "So I think we can forgive taxpayers for not celebrating when they see the truth behind today's announcements. Going into this statement the Government had already put in place tax increases worth the equivalent of a 10p increase in national insurance. So today's 2p cut will not remotely compensate for the tax (increases) already put in place by this Conservative Government. The fact is that taxes will be higher at the next election than they were at the last."
Speaking in the Commons the Shadow Chancellor also hit out at Mr Hunt's claim last week the economy had "turned a corner" after inflation fell. She said: "The Chancellor claims that the economy has turned a corner, yet the truth is under the Conservatives growth has hit a dead end. What has been laid bare today is the full scale of the damage that this Government has done to our economy over 13 years."