James Dyson attack on Budget as 'spiteful' slammed by Yvette Cooper

Transcript

00:00Well, I clearly don't agree with that. I think the opposite is true. This is a budget that's

00:06about fixing the foundations. We did inherit the shocking state of the public finances

00:11that was much worse than we had anticipated, and also very weak growth in the economy and

00:17the parlous state of our public services, particularly our national health service,

00:21which has really been pushed onto its knees. And so what the budget has done has been setting

00:26out how we fix the foundations, get the public finances on track, how we also boost growth

00:32across the economy, and also how we start to fix those really damaged public services,

00:38particularly with the investment in the national health service. Of course, that has meant

00:42some difficult decisions. We don't run away from that. We would not have been able to

00:46turn our backs on that. That's the way the Conservatives operated for so long, and that's

00:51why we've run into so many different crises under the last Conservative government. We

00:56can't carry on doing that. We have to actually fix things, and that's what this budget is doing.

01:01So do you reject Dyson's words that this was a spiteful budget?

01:05Of course. Of course. Of course I don't agree with that. I think this is about a very positive

01:11budget to fix the foundations, but also to be able to grow our economy, to support growth

01:15and opportunities for everyone in the future. Because if you don't sort out the public finances,

01:20that is going to hit our economy, that is going to hit businesses across the country,

01:24that is going to hit growth, it's also going to hit families across the country, and it is going

01:28to hit the public services that every single one of us depend on them. We can't just keep

01:34ignoring those problems. We've had to face it. It does mean difficult decisions, but I think

01:38what Rachel has done, what Rachel Reeves has done, is set out the way to start fixing those

01:43problems for the future.