Rachel Reeves emergency budget was a humiliation and it confirmed what we knew already... Labour isnt working, writes MEL STRIDE

Rachel Reeves emergency budget was a humiliation. It confirmed what Im sure many Daily Mail readers knew already: Labour isnt working. Families are hurting. Growth, unemployment and inflation are all going in the wrong direction. Government borrowing and debt are rising. And its all the Chancellors fault – she is the architect of Britains economic mess.

To govern is to choose. And yesterday/today was the Chancellors opportunity to choose a fresh path for Britain away from her vision of managed decline. But predictably, she instead dodged responsibility and blamed everyone other than herself.

The Chancellor wants to blame global factors outside her control, just as before she tried to blame the previous Conservative government with a fictitious black hole. But Britain doesnt need a blame game. Rachel Reeves needs to accept responsibility, so she can clean up the mess shes made.

Much like when Labour said they would grow the economy, or not tax working people, or reduce migration, the Chancellor said she would only need one budget a year. But she has been forced into an emergency budget because of the damage she has done to our economy and her failure to grip the public finances. She had to do this because the official budget watchdog confirmed she would otherwise be breaking her own fiddled fiscal rules.

Rachel Reeves emergency budget was a humiliation, Mel Stride writes

Conservative Party Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Mel Stride speaking during  Rachel Reeves presentation of the Spring Budget

Stride said: Reeves came in with growth as her number one priority. She inherited the fastest growth in the G7, but she has trashed the economy, hiked record taxes and killed growth

That shows beyond any doubt that her disastrous choices in the autumn have cost the country dearly. Any qualified economist would see halved growth, doubled inflation and rising borrowing costs as the warning lights flashing red. But she refuses to change course, her head buried firmly in the sand.

Rachel Reeves came in with growth as her number one priority. She inherited the fastest growth in the G7, but she has trashed the economy, hiked record taxes and killed growth.

Yesterday showed it hasnt yet dawned on the Chancellor that you cant talk growth into existence if you do everything possible to crush it. She should know its deeds, not words, that count. In the small print of the emergency budget, it revealed what we have said all along - her policies are making everyone poorer. They sent borrowing, unemployment and inflation in the wrong direction. People will be paying record taxes, while prices in the shops are rising.

And that is because the Chancellor set the country on the wrong path in the Autumn. It started with snatching pensioners winter fuel payments. We saw in black and white that borrowing, debt and spending are spiralling out of control because of her. We are now flushing an extra £30 billion down the drain in debt interest alone - on top of the almost £50 billion already added at Labours last budget.

Rachel Reeves with Britains Defence Secretary John Healey

Mel Stride speaking during spring statement in the House of Commons

Her policies mean that interest rates will stay higher for longer, consumers will have to pay more at the shops and mortgages will be more expensive for families. Even pints will cost more. This is the price we are paying for the Chancellors ineptitude.

While she pats herself on the back publicly, privately she must know what we all know – her policies are failing. The official numbers confirm we are poorer, and we are weaker because of her choices.

The Conservatives are under new leadership and exposing this Labour government for what it really is: bad for Britain. The Chancellor wants to blame everyone except herself, but the fact is we are where we are because of her choices. She needs to start by owning them.