Darren Jones suggests Tory shadow minister has ‘amnesia’

Treasury minister Darren Jones has suggested that a Tory shadow minister has “amnesia”, with another Labour MP branding the Conservative Party “delulu”.

Mr Jones’s comments were aimed at shadow Treasury minister Alex Burghart, who had described the Budget as being “as bad as bad can be”, and criticised the impact the national insurance rise would have on businesses and services.

Meanwhile, Labour MP for Portsmouth North Amanda Martin described the Tories as “delulu” – meaning delusional – about their record in government.

During the fourth day of the Budget debate, Mr Burghart told the Commons: “I know what it is to be sent out to defend the indefensible, and I can see that (Darren Jones) has a fine skill developing.

“This is a bad Budget, it’s as bad as bad can be. At its heart is a decision to tax business hard, very hard. To tax businesses and through them, workers, until the pips scream,” he added.

Mr Burghart said GP surgeries are “in limbo” as a result of the rise in employers’ national insurance, adding: “I first ask (Mr Jones), if he will publish figures on who his national insurance contribution tax rises hit? What the costs are to those services? And whether they will get compensation?”

He went on to say: “The Chancellor has chosen tax over employment, and this will not deliver growth.

“So the Government’s plans have been to tax, to spend, to think a bit, set up a website, to get told to serve waffles for every meal, to think a bit more, then it will be to see if any money’s left, and it will be discovered there isn’t, and it will need to increase taxes again.

“What is becoming painfully apparent is that Labour wasted opposition, it had 14 years to come up with a plan for the NHS, but it didn’t and now it is struggling to find one.”

On Tuesday, Mr Jones replied: “From what he’s said today, and I must confess I’m not a clinician, I think he may have some amnesia about the performance of his party in government.

This is a bad Budget, it's as bad as bad can be.

“But maybe his friend the former minister for common sense (Esther McVey) can help him find some before he next appears before the House?”

Mr Jones added: “I’ve been asked by many members about the difficult decision to increase employer national insurance contributions, in the context of course of this party honouring its promise to working people not to increase employee national insurance or income tax in their payslips.

“It is right that the Government is not legislating to exempt non-public sector organisations from these changes, but as the Secretary of State for Health (Wes Streeting) has said, we do pay for these services; it will be reflected in their settlements.”

The shadow health secretary Edward Argar said the rise in employer national insurance contributions is “ill thought out” and will hit GP surgeries, hospices, and social care providers.

He said: “The Royal College of GPs has warned that the extra cost of the national insurance hike could see GP surgeries forced to make redundancies or close their practice all together, and the Independent Pharmacies Association warned that community pharmacies will have to find an extra £12,000 a year on average.”

Earlier in the debate, Ms Martin accused the Tories of attempting to “rewrite history”.

She said: “The depleted benches opposite continue to paint a picture that the last 14 years of Tory neglect were not a choice, made even more delulu by the attacks on the changes this Government has made to fix the foundations and improve lives of people in constituencies up and down the country.”

Opening the Budget debate earlier, Health Secretary Wes Streeting had pledged that winter 2024 will be the first “in three years where NHS staff are on the front line, not the picket line”.

In September, junior doctors in England voted to accept a Government pay deal worth 22.3% on average over two years, bringing their long-running dispute to an end.

Mr Streeting said the previous government had “no funding” put aside to end junior doctors’ strikes, despite 18 months of action.

He said: “What’s more, the previous health secretary hadn’t met the resident doctors since March. They’d given up even attempting to end the strikes.

“Remember that this winter – for all the challenges the NHS will face – this will be the first winter in three years where NHS staff are on the front line, not the picket line.

“That’s the difference a Labour Budget makes.”