Devon’s Stride criticises Spending Review as ‘masterclass in delusion’

Shadow chancellor claimed farmers were 'barely mentioned'

Central Devon MP Mel Stride has criticised the government’s spending review as a “masterclass in delusion”.

Mr Stride, who is also shadow chancellor, criticised chancellor Rachel Reeves across the despatch box in parliament on Wednesday.

He claimed the review was “not worth the paper it is written on”, adding that the chancellor had “completely lost control”.

“This is a spend now, tax later review, as the Right Honorable Lady knows she will need to come back in the autumn with yet more tax rises, meaning a cruel summer of speculation awaits,” he said.

“We were assured at the election that Labour would require barely any additional spending or borrowing, but now the chancellor parades her largesse with hundreds of billions in additional spending.

“This is front-loaded, but the chancellor now expects us to believe she will let spending rise by only 1.2 per cent per year – there is no chance whatsoever of that happening.”

He added that the chancellor hardly considered an industry relevant to his constituency: farming.

“The chancellor has barely mentioned farming, and so it’s not enough to hit famers with the family farm tax, but today the choice is to make further cuts to vital grants on which many farmers rely,” Mr Stride said.

“It is a huge betrayal of the farming communities, and some of the government’s MPs in rural constituencies will have to explain this [to voters].”

Ms Reeves championed her review’s £11 billion increase in defence spending, and the pledge to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers before the end of this parliament.

She also claimed the government would be initiating the biggest cash injection into social and affordable housing in 50 years, with a new affordable homes programme which would see £39 billion invested in the next decade.

Furthermore, she announced that £10 billion would be made available for infrastructure through Homes England, and that £15 billion is earmarked for major urban transport projects.