Andrew Neil slammed Rachel Reeves for “kicking the life out” of the UK economy in a brutal social media takedown.
The Chancellor took to X to defend her work in “kick-starting economic growth” in the wake of the cost-of-living crisis, but received a furious backlash.
She wrote: “There is still work to be done to help families with the cost of living. That’s why kick-starting economic growth is the number one priority of this Government. I will fight every day to deliver that growth and make every part of Britain better off.”
Ms Reeves’s message was met with a number of angry responses, including from Mr Neil, who accused her of spreading “Soviet propaganda”. He wrote: “You’re not kick-starting growth. You’re kicking the life out of it.
“This kind of propaganda statement – of which there are a growing number from the Government, nearly all divorced from reality – increasingly reads like Soviet propaganda in the 1930s boasting about wheat production while the kulaks starved.”
Mr Neil was not the only one angered by the Chancellor’s social media statement. Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe also hit back at her for spewing an “incoherent word salad”.
It came as the Chancellor sparked fears of yet more tax hikes and spending cuts after she refused to rule out announcing a Budget in March.
Ms Reeves said she would stick to “one Budget per year” based on “an update from the Office for Budget Responsibility” which will be published on March 26.
She added that the Government has set out fiscal rules to balance day-to-day spending with tax income, adding: “We will get debt down as a share of GDP within the forecast period, and we will continue at all times to meet those fiscal rules.”
Ms Reeves also blamed “global movements in the international markets” for affecting interest rates after the Government presided over a 27-year high in borrowing costs.
Sir Keir Starmer has also refused to confirm whether the Chancellor will keep her job until the next general election amid calls from the Opposition to fire her.
A spokesman later confirmed she would retain her job “for the whole of this Parliament”.
