Rachel Reeves admits April’s inflation rise to 3.5% is “clearly disappointing” but acknowledges the figures are partly down to government policies to “stabilise” the economy. The chancellor says, “I do recognise that all policies have consequences, but if I hadn't have acted to stabilise the public finances, we would be in a worse position today." Report by Blairm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00The numbers today are clearly disappointing. We want to see inflation coming down after the cost
00:05of living challenges that people have been through this last few years. Clearly we're in a different
00:11place to where we were under the previous government where inflation got into double digits
00:16but we recognize the cost of living is still a challenge which is why we increase the national
00:22living wage giving a pay rise to three million people in April. It's why we're rolling out free
00:27breakfast clubs at primary schools to help families with the cost of living and it's why we
00:32froze fuel duty in the budget last year. When I became Chancellor last year I faced a very difficult
00:39challenge that there was a 22 billion pound black hole in the public finances. We had to fix that
00:46and if we hadn't have done the Bank of England would not have been able to cut interest rates
00:50four times this last year which has obviously had a direct effect on the mortgages and the rents that
00:55people pay and also that money that we raised from national insurance but also cracking down
01:02on non-dom tax VAT on private schools increasing capital gains particularly on private equity funds
01:08that money has gone into our national health service which is why waiting lists and waiting
01:12times are going down after spiraling out of control the last few years. So I do recognize that all policies
01:18have consequences but if I hadn't have acted to stabilize the public finances we would be in a worse
01:24position today.