BBC Question Time viewers tear aside Rachel Reeves Budget – ‘what is the level of working’ | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Question Time opened badly for Labour tonight with one viewers member firing off a gap salvo asking “what is the point of working” with Rachel Reeves “taxing everything in sight”. The frank query was posed to the panel, together with Labour Treasury minister James Murray, Conservative shadow Treasury minister Gareth Davies, Lib Dem MP Calum Miller, Pizza Express and Gail’s Bakery entrepreneur Luke Johnson and Guardian and Observer author Sonia Sodha.

Fiona Bruce hosted the panel present from Watford and launched the primary query from the viewers to kick off tonight’s present. Audience member Emma, who was sporting a sensible jumper and glasses, produced a humdinger of a starter for the panel, asking: “With Rachel Reeves taxing everything and everybody in sight, what is the point in working hard and being aspirational?”

Taking the query to the panel, Ms Bruce stated: “Right, well you sound pretty fed up Emma”.

Responding together with his ideas, businessman Mr Johnson stated: “This was a Budget for individuals who obtain welfare and advantages, and never for working individuals.”

He added “there is no growth” from the Budget and that he “cannot remember a time” businesspeople in the UK were “as demoralised as they are”.

Columnist Ms Sodha said Labour had made the mistake of going “into the final election saying ‘vote for us and we’ll repair all of it inside 5 years’”, including that it might take so much longer and that she wished politicians had been “more honest”.

Labour’s Mr Murray, who’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury underneath Rachel Reeves, claimed the Chancellor’s massively taxing Budget was “fair” and “necessary” to sort out “long-term challenges”.

He stated: “We are asking everyone to make a contribution but we are keeping that contribution for working people as low as we possibly can.”

Conservative Mr Davies said the public were “quite angry” with the Budget and that choices were made they weren’t told about “before the election”.