Angela Rayner tore into a Tory frontbencher in PMQs when he tried to slam the government over October’s rise in inflation today.
Official figures show inflation crept up from 1.7% to 2.3% in October which is above the target rate of 2%.
But the deputy prime minister was ready with her comeback when the stand-in for the new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch tried to question the government over it.
Alex Burghart, the shadow chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster, began his first PMQs from the despatch box by asking Rayner: “What is the government doing to bring down inflation?”
She quickly replied: “Many people might not know that the honourable member was the minister for growth when under Liz Truss, inflation was 11.1% and growth flatlined. So we’re doing much better than he did!”
Truss was forced out of No.10 after her dramatic mini-Budget sent markets into turmoil and the pound plummeting in value.
But Burghart just replied: “The truth is this government isn’t doing anything to bring down inflation. This government is stoking inflation.
“First we had above inflation pay rises for the unions and then we had a Budget which the OBR said would push up inflation.
“This morning, we had City economists – real economists, Mr Speaker – saying that next year inflation would hit 3%.”
He said this government’s decisions mean higher inflation for working people, in a dig towards Labour’s promises to protect working people in their Budget.
But Rayner replied: “Mr Speaker I’ll ask the honourable gentleman, 11.1% or 3%?”
Burghart claimed the high inflation levels seen under the Tory government all came down to the Ukraine war, which drove up energy prices, and the impact of the Covid pandemic.
“This government is doing it to the British people,” he claimed, declaring that this was “Starmerism”.
But Ranyer said: “It was his government who raised taxes to their highest level in a generation.
“It was his government that crashed the economy, that saw inflation rise to 11.1% and growth flatline.
“It was his government that spent the reserves three times over. I take no lessons from the honourable gentleman!”