Kemi Badenoch accuses Chancellor of market manipulation: ‘she told a lie’

CONSERVATIVE Party leader Kemi Badenoch has accused Chancellor Rachel Reeves of misleading the markets and lying about a black hole in the public finances during the Budget speech.

She also said the Prime Minister would have to resign if he also knew that the finances were actually in surplus.

Badenoch told the Camilla Tominey Show on GB News: “It was a big press conference, the Cheerios briefing. You may remember, I was giving a speech that day, and I had to stop what I was doing to watch it. And I thought, what on earth was that? Why is she doing this? She knew exactly what she was doing. She was trying to pitch roll higher taxes. She was trying to send a signal to the markets.

“This is why we have written a letter to the Financial Conduct Authority. We think there may have been some market abuse, but the bottom-line Camilla is that she told a lie. She said that there wasn’t any money. The OBR said that there was, and has shown evidence that they had told her that she wanted to raise money for welfare, and that’s what she did. This was a bung for benefits.”

On the prospect of the Chancellor being sanctioned by the FSA, she said: “The thing is, if a CEO had behaved like this before they gave an annual report, that’s what would be happening, just coming out, saying things to try and get the bond markets to treat you a little bit more nicely so you can find money for welfare benefits. That is absolutely wrong.

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“But the worst thing is that she’s raised taxes now on a lot of working people who are now paying for benefits when they’re struggling themselves. The Telegraph today talks about £18,000 worse off, the families that are not on benefits. The average family that she’s given money to is getting an extra £5,000. That’s a lot of money. Yes, half a million families Rachel Reeves has given an extra £5,000 pounds. We think that’s wrong.”

She added: “What we can do is what Mel Stride, the Shadow Chancellor, has done today, ask the Financial Conduct Authority to investigate. They may find that we’re correct. They may decide that maybe they had just cause.

“But what I think is really awful is that a lot of people heard what they said. There are some people who drew down their pension because they were worried about what was going to happen. Some people left the country, I’m hearing, because of the talk about the exit tax.

“Others were fixing their mortgages because they thought it was going to be so terrible. She came out there, she held that press conference telling everyone that she was going to raise taxes, changed her mind three days later, and is now creating just a gigantic welfare state which we cannot afford.”

Asked if the Prime Minister and the Chancellor should resign, she said: “If he knew, as I tweeted this morning, then yes. He is just as implicated.”

Asked if the Conservatives could afford to abolish Stamp Duty if they won the next election, she said: “Yes, we can, and it is because Stamp Duty, like many other taxes actually depresses growth. People aren’t buying houses. The housing market is completely gummed up.

“People aren’t buying houses. They’re not downsizing and that means a lot of first starts, people starting out with their first home. They’re not buying, you scrap stamp duty.”