Rachel Reeves needs scapegoat for tax bloodbath – she’s found her man | Personal Finance | Finance
Rachel Reeves looks set to take on another £30bn in taxes to balance the books. This is on top of the £40bn it imposed last year.
Only Labour’s die-hard class warriors think this is a good idea. Last year’s Budget raid crushed growth rather than boosting it. Reeves also destroyed jobs, ruined companies, stoked inflation, increased debt, and scared taxpayers about what would happen next.
With the economy stagnating, the last thing we need is another tax massacre, but that’s what we’re getting.
The blow will fall on retirees and homeowners with wealth to their names. He will claim that he is attacking the rich in the name of equality, but all he will do is make everyone equally poor.
Rachel Reeves has been the most disliked Chancellor since records began. Soon he will be hated even more, and he knows it.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a politician with an unpopular sales policy is looking for a scapegoat. Now he found one. His choice is surprising.
He placed the blame for all the failures so far squarely on the Conservative Party. This is the oldest trick in the book.
Reeves adopted this tactic immediately after the election, attacking the nearly £22bn “black hole” inherited from the Conservative Party.
Unfortunately for Reeves, reminding voters about the black hole is no longer a good idea. It took the Conservatives 14 years to create their own. Reeves doubled that figure to over £40bn in just 14 months.
There’s another reason why blaming conservatives won’t work. Voters don’t care about them anymore. The real threat to Labor is Reform UK, which is currently leading the polls. Accordingly Times, He’ll make them scapegoats because of his budget. This is true. He will blame it on Nigel Farage. Really?
How stupid does he think we are? Reeves is Chancellor. This is his budget. He’s the one who raises taxes. He could cut spending, but he won’t.
So for him, putting the blame on someone else is a cheap trick. It’s even cheaper to blame Nigel Farage.
Farage has never held office. The Budget was never delivered. I never increased taxes. He absolutely cannot be held responsible for the incompetence of this government or the last five governments because he had no power to prevent or correct them.
Farage campaigned for Brexit but did not negotiate it, prepare post-Brexit policy or take responsibility for its consequences.
It’s a hopeless strategy, but Reeves doesn’t care. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who supports this, also disagrees. They hope this will fire up Brexit-hating liberals and win back Red Wall voters. Somehow.
It is more likely to backfire. It was voters, not Farage, who decided we should leave the EU. Reeves should blame them. I’m not sure it will go down well though.
The budget on November 26 will turn into a bloodbath. Voters will know exactly who to blame, and it certainly won’t be Nigel Farage.
