turned tense this morning as presenters and skewered a minister over potential new taxes.
Industry Minister Sarah Jones appeared on the programme ahead of the Office of Budget Responsibility’s impending statement on the state of the . But she failed to answer many of the questions put to her, leaving Susanna irked. Jones insisted: “What’s most important to us of course is the security of our nation and we need to pay for that, but we also need to make sure people are getting money in their pockets, they’re getting good jobs, we’re investing in the industries of the future. I’m the Industry Minister, we’re developing that industrial strategy which is gonna be a guiding light for where we want to get to in 10 years time, how we’re going to get people into good jobs.
“The principles – we need a proper defence and we need to make sure we’re growing the economy – are the two guiding lights for this government.”
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Susanna and Ed grilled a Labour minister on the economy (Image: ITV)
Ed chimed in to say: “The problem is when you say those things – you know, green shoots, more jobs, strengthen our econmy – it’s so out of sync with what’s actually happening. The Office of Budget Responsibility, we’re expecting, is going to say that the economy is weaker, that the physical position is worse, and you’re trying to persuade them you can make up the gap with immediate cuts in benefits for people on sickness or disability benefits. That’s not green shoots, that’s optimism, and that’s getting worse.”
Jones replied: “We don’t know what the OBR will say, we’re waiting for that, and we don’t know, er, what the outcome of the spending review will be. We’re working really hard on making sure where we have taxpayers’ money, we’re spending it wisely.”
It was Susanna’s turn to skewer her, as she said: “Of course, you’ve raised employers’ national insurance. Can I ask, are you considering any new taxes?”
Sarah Jones refused to speculate on any new taxes (Image: ITV)
Jones insisted: “So I’m not going to speculate, I’m sorry about that, on what the Chancellor may say or may not, we are investigating every penny that we spend so we are spending taxpayers’ money wisely-” but Susanna quickly interrupted to say: “So there might be tax rises in the budget?”
Jones doubled down on her earlier comments, stating: “I’m not going to speculate on anything that may or may not come from the Chancellor. They’re her decisions to make and she will make them in the national interest.” But an irate Susanna said: “That means it’s a possibility, you would otherwise say there are no new taxes.”
Jones said: “Well we’ve been clear and we’ve made commitments in terms of our manifesto about things like corporation tax not rising.”
Susanna pointed out that the manifesto also stated Labour would not cut international aid, arguing: “You’ve done that. So unfortunately the manifesto already doesn’t hold up, but I’m afraid we have to leave it there.” Keen to have the last word, Jones said: “I think people would appreciate and are agreeing with the choice we had to make on defence and international aid-“
But Susanna ended the interview by saying: “Which presumably is going to be an argument you would use on any point, on any page of your manifesto. We will wait to hear what the OBR says. Thank you very much indeed, thanks for joining us this morning.”