THE Government is being “dishonest” about the state of the country’s finances and preparing the ground for tax rises, according to Shadow Transport Secretary Helen Whately.
She told GB News: “What might be helpful is just to start with some of the facts that everyone can agree on, which is that when Labour came into office on 5 July, what they took on was an economy that was the fastest growing in the G7, inflation right back down to 2%, the deficit halved since we came into government in 2010, and unemployment at a historic low.
“Of course, there was pressures on the Government's finances, but actually that was a pretty strong position that they took on, and they knew what they were taking on, because actually these figures are in the public domain thanks to the Office of Budget Responsibility.
“The OBR was set up back in 2010 to provide this kind of transparency on the state of the country's finances, so Labour knew what they were taking on and what I think they're just doing here is setting out a narrative which is going to justify putting up taxes for people in the autumn.
“That is something which I just think is a dishonest thing to do, given that during the election campaign Labour said over 50 times that they weren't going to raise taxes, so they were going to do that, they should have told people before they voted.”
Asked about the Tory leadership contest, she said: “I want to see our winning candidate be somebody who, yes, can unite our party, but also crucially unite the country and set out a vision that people can get excited about, that recognises the challenges we face as a country, but also sees the opportunities, aspiration, and optimism.
“This is really important to hear, and also, I know people want to be assured that as and when we get back into government, we could be really competent and we will deliver for them.”
She added: “It feels like we're already working closely together. Clearly, there's a smaller number of Conservative MPs in the House of Commons, but we're already really working hard to hold the Labour government to account…
“So actually, we do already have an effective opposition. We're providing that, we're determined to be a constructive opposition.
“We'll recognise when Labour does things right. We heard the message at the election that people wanted something different, but we actually will and are already holding them to account.”
