Miliband Belittles Budget Built on "Unfairness and Economic Failure"

By Ben Aulakh

The Labour leader Ed Miliband has attacked the Chancellor George Osborne for producing a “millionaire’s budget, built on unfairness and economic failure.”

The leader of the opposition labelled the Chancellor’s decision to scrap the top 50p rate of income tax as a “massive tax cut” of £40, 000 for those earning more than £150, 000 a year.

He said, “Today marks the end of were all in it together as millions of people will pay more while millionaires will pay less.”

Mr Miliband also reminded the Chancellor of a statement he made in last year’s budget that it would “not be right to remove 50p tax rate at the same time as asking others on lower incomes to make sacrifices.”

Mr Miliband offered the example of a banker, earning £5 million a year, who would be £240, 000 better off as a result of the changes.

The Labour Leader also criticised the government for having to downgrade its growth figures for the economy from a figure of 2.5 per cent, announced in last year’s budget, to 0.8 per cent this time round.

With unemployment set to peak this year at 1.67 million, the highest for 17 years, the Labour Leader labelled the government as overseeing “unemployment rising month after month.”

He also criticised the government’s claim that the “deficit would be gone by the end of this parliament, because the Chancellor is still set to borrow £150 billion this year, more than he said he would.”

He added, “In face of failure he has a driving ambition to offer a tax cut tax cut to those earning more than 150 thousand a year; a tax cut which benefits 700, 000 people and does nothing for another 29 million.”

Rachel Reeves, Shadow Secretary to the Treasury also lambasted the government’s removal of the 50p tax rate.

Appearing on Channel Four News last night she said, “On average for every high-earner this amounts to saving of £10, 000 pounds, so what we do know is that there are 300, 000 people who are going to get a big tax cut next year.”

Mr Miliband also slated the Liberal Democrats as being “the only party dumb enough to think that an Osborne budget is a Robin Hood budget.”

He added, “the Deputy Prime Minister has basically rolled over and given in to the government on every single important issue.”

Photograph from www.edp24.co.uk.