‘Why Would Anyone Believe A Word You Say?’ Sky News Presenter Roasts Chancellor Over Tax Rises

Posted on 03/11/2024 by Boris Clair

Rachel Reeves has been skewered by a Sky News presenter for massively hiking taxes just months after saying she had “no plans” to do so.

Trevor Phillips asked the chancellor why “a reasonable person would believe a single word you say” in future.

Reeves was shown a video of her from June 11, three weeks before the general election, where she said: “I don’t need to become chancellor to know what a mess the government have made of public finances, of public services and the fact that the tax burden is at its highest level in 70 years.

“We don’t need higher taxes, what we need is growth and I don’t want to, and I have no plan to increase any taxes beyond what we have already set out.”

But last Wednesday, she announced £40 billion worth of tax rises, partly to fill the £22bn “black hole” Labour says it was left by the last Tory government.

Phillips told her: “You specifically said you already knew everything you needed to know, yet on Wednesday you raised taxes by £40 billion.

“Why would a reasonable person believe a single word that you say in the next 15 minutes and that you’ll stick to it?”

Reeves replied: “I was wrong on June 11. I didn’t know everything, because when I arrived at the Treasury on July 5, I was taken into a room by the senior officials and they set out the huge black hole in the public finances, beyond which anybody knew about at the time of the general election.

“The previous government hid it from the country, hid it from parliament and indeed they hid it from the official independent forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility.

“And so when I went into that Budget last week I had to put our public finances back onto a firm trajectory because we saw in the previous parliament what happens when government loses control of the public finances, and the first commitment we made in our manifesto was to bring stability back to the economy.”

Trevor Phillips Suggests Labour’s Manifesto Included ‘Terms And Conditions’

Posted on 20/10/2024 by Boris Clair

Sky News’ Trevor Phillips called out the government on Sunday morning by saying Labour’s manifesto had “terms and conditions” attached.

With less than two weeks to go until chancellor Rachel Reeves unveils her first Budget, the public are nervously waiting to see how she tries to raise £40bn in spending cuts and tax rises while also trying to avoid austerity measures.

Labour also promised before the election not to increase taxes for “working people”, particularly when it comes to VAT, income tax and National Insurance contributions.

In a clash with health secretary Wes Streeting, presenter Phillips asked how the “working people” label applies to the self-employed.

“Of course self-employed people are working people,” the cabinet minister replied, adding that when he thinks about the term, he means those who are on “low to middle incomes”.

Phillips asked: “Why is it then that in the legislation you’re going to introduce tomorrow on workers’ rights, you don’t redefine to include the self-employed?”

Streeting said that they have a “different working arrangement”.

The presenter asked: “So just in the same way you told us there would be no rise in National Insurance, but suddenly there’s rises in National Insurance for employers, it’s just possible there might be rises in taxes for the self-employed, because they’re not workers?”

The minister replied: “We will keep our manifesto promises, despite the pressures, we will not increase income tax, National Insurance or VAT on working people – that was the commitment we made before the general election.”

Phillips cut in: “Every expert says you’re breaking the pledge.”

Paul Johnson of the think tank Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) already said last week that putting up NI in any way would be a manifesto breach.

The health secretary claimed Labour had been criticised for not being radical enough in their manifesto in the run up to the general election, and that’s because they knew it had to be feasible to deliver on it.

As they spoke over each other, the presenter hit out: “You know what I want to do now? I want to say, I take that answer but terms and conditions apply.”

“What do you mean? Absolutely not,” Streeting said, saying Labour are going to deliver on every pledge they made in their manifesto.

‘It Feels Dodgy’: Cabinet Minister Forced To Defend 40th Birthday Party Paid For By Labour Donor

Posted on 22/09/2024 by Boris Clair

A cabinet minister has been forced to defend allowing a millionaire Labour donor to pay for her 40th birthday party.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson was told it “looks dodgy” that Lord Alli funded the bash, which was held at the upmarket Cinnamon Club restaurant in Westminster last December.

However, on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News this morning, she insisted it had been a work event and that even her own family were not in attendance.

According to the Houghton and Sunderland South MP’s register of interests, she received £14,000 from Lord Alli.

Asked by Phillips what the money was for, Phillipson said: “It was used to fund two events, all of which was declared properly and thoroughly, that’s why that information is in the public domain.

“The first event was ahead of my birthday. So I was turning 40, I thought it was a good opportunity to get people together in a professional context. So it was journalists, trade unionists, education people, MPs and shadow cabinet.”

The presenter replied: “That’s a very nice thing, but if a Tory had done that two years ago, I know exactly what you would be saying to me this morning – they should pay for their own birthday parties.”

Phillipson responded: “Look, this was in a work context. My own family didn’t come to that, it was in a work context.

“I celebrated my actual 40th birthday with my family. We went for a pizza, I celebrated with my kids.

“This was where I got together colleagues, journalists actually, trade unionists, education people. It was in a very different kind of context.

″[Lord Alli] is a Labour peer, he’s been a Labour peer for over 25 years. This is fully transparent.”

But Phillips told her: “I think we might be digging a slightly bigger hole here. You’ve got a lot of people who knew you might be the education secretary and you’ve got them in a room. You’re paying them to lobby you.

“To the average viewer, it feels dodgy. It feels like this is now an event for lobbyists.”

Phillipson said: “No, that’s absolutely not what it was. This was an opportunity for people to come together to have a reception so we can talk about, for example, issues around education.

“These kinds of things happen regularly. It was all declared in line with the rules and fully transparent.”

The clash came amid an ongoing row over senior Labour figures, including Keir Starmer, receiving hospitality from, among others, Lord Alli.

Health Secretary Cornered By Graph Putting £22bn ‘Black Hole’ In Perspective

Posted on 08/09/2024 by Boris Clair

Health secretary Wes Streeting was presented with a brutal graph putting Labour’s £22bn black hole claim into perspective this morning.

The new government has repeatedly said the Conservatives left behind a huge gap between they thought was coming in and how much is actually being spent.

Labour say this is why it is asking MPs to vote on restricting winter fuel payments in the Commons next week – a move which, if voted through, will leave around 10 million pensioners worse-off.

So a handful of Labour MPs are considering voting against the government – and PM Keir Starmer has refused to say whether or not that could result in their suspension from the party.

With this potential headache looming for the government, presenter Trevor Phillips presented Streeting with a large chart showing just how large the £22bn black hole in comparison to the rest of the government spending – which stands at a whopping £1,226bn.

The Sky News host said: “I mean, seriously, the £22bn black hole – it’s not the biggest thing in the world that you have to face, is it?”

“No, that is not what I said,” Streeting replied.

Phillips cut in: “You’re making £22bn sound like if you don’t fix it, the economy is going to crash.”

The leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell, sparked concern after saying only last weekend that the economy was at risk of crashing unless the government fixed that £22bn black hole.

Streeting sarcastically hit back: “Oh, let’s just go on spending more than we’ve got, we’ll go on ratcheting up the debt, the deficit – who cares, right?

“That was basically where the last Conservative government got to.”

But Phillips cut off Streeting’s attempts to slam the Tories, saying: “I’d like to spend at least some of this interview talking about some of your decisions rather than the Conservative past.”

He added that the winter fuel allowance cut was still Labour’s choice, and that the House of Lords scrutiny committee had released a report this week saying the decision to cut back on winter fuel payments did not need to be rushed through.

Streeting said it was a “tough choice” with “political pain” and that he was not “remotely happy” about having to vote for it.

Throughout the interview, he reiterated that Labour are facing a major challenge with the government’s finances because of the mess the Tories left behind, saying: “It was an unprecedented degree of in-year recklessness.”

He added: “Whether it’s pensioners or anyone else in this country, they won’t forgive us if we duck the difficult decisions now and end up leaving the country with a bigger bill and a bigger price of failure for the future. That was the Conservative way and that’s not the approach we’re going to take.”

Winter Fuel Payments For Pensioners Were Cut To Prevent Economy Crashing, Minister Says

Posted on 01/09/2024 by Boris Clair

Winter fuel payments were ended for millions of pensioners to prevent the economy from crashing, a minister has claimed.

Commons leader Lucy Powell suggested there could even have been a run on the pound unless Labour had cut day-to-day government spending.

Her comments come amid a growing backlash to chancellor Rachel Reeves’ decision to end winter fuel payments for all but the very poorest pensioners.

An estimated 10 million old people will lose out on payments of up to £300 a year as a result of the controversial decision.

On Sky News this morning, presenter Trevor Phillips asked Powell: “When the prime minister said this week ‘those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heaviest burden’, was he talking about the 10 million pensioners who will lose [winter fuel payments]?”

Powell told him: “Well this is an example of one of the very difficult decisions that we’ve had to make that we didn’t want to make, that we weren’t wanting to do when we got elected.”

After Phillips told her “you didn’t have to make it”, the minister replied: “It is really important for people to understand the context.

“What we found was that spending was much higher in the current year that we are in than anybody had thought.

“There was a black hole of £22 billion that was made up of things like nearly £7 billion of underfunding of the asylum system, that the previous government knew was there and they put their head in the sand and didn’t take the difficult decisions they needed to take because they knew they were going to lose the election.

“That’s why we’ve had to take some of these really difficult decisions around means testing the winter payments so that the poorest pensioners continue to receive it, but some of the wealthiest pensioners won’t.”

But Phillips replied: “You are now the government, you made a choice, and the first choice you’ve made was to withdraw the allowance from pensioners, in the same way that you’ve chosen to hand out pay increases way above inflation while you’ve been telling others with three children that you’ll have to wait until you’ve found the money to lift the benefit cap. These are your choices.”

Powell replied: “Finding in-year savings in the current year is very difficult indeed.

“If we didn’t, we would have seen the markets losing confidence, potentially a run on the pound, the economy crashing and the people who pay the heaviest price for that when the economy crashes is the poorest in society, and people like pensioners.”

Shadow Treasury chief secretary Laura Trott said: “This simply shows how desperate the new Labour government is to run from responsibility for the tax rises they always planned but hid from the public during the election.

“After handing billions in inflation-busting pay rises to their union paymasters, no-one believes Labour’s chicken little strategy.

“They should stop trying to deceive the public with ridiculous fantasies and instead have the courage to let parliament debate cuts to winter fuel payments for the sake of those pensioners who will lose out thanks to the decisions of this government.”

Both the Tories and Lib Dems are planning to force a Commons vote on the removal of winter fuel payments to all but those who claim pensioner credit.

Some Labour MPs are threatening to rebel by voting with the opposition in protest at the chancellor’s decision.

The government is launching a campaign urging those who do not claim the £3,900 benefit but are entitled to it to do so.

The average pension credit is £75 a week, but it is estimated that 880,000 who qualify for it do not claim it.

Cabinet Minister Accuses Rishi Sunak Of ‘Deliberately Covering Up’ Problems Within Government

Posted on 28/07/2024 by Boris Clair

A cabinet minister has accused former PM Rishi Sunak of “deliberately covering up” the country’s crises when he was in government.

Speaking on Sky News’ Sunday with Trevor Phillips, the environment secretary, Steve Reed, said the Tories had left the country in a much worse state than previously expected – and that Labour were only just discovering how bad it is.

Reed claimed the Conservatives left a “catastrophic” inheritance behind – although Phillips replied: “Is there an element of, let’s call it ‘Kabuki theatre’ here?”

He pointed out that chancellor Rachel Reeves herself said in June that, “we’ve got the OBR [Office for Budget Responsibility] now, we know things are in a pretty bad state, you don’t win at the election to find that out.’”

Reeves is expected to say the Tories left a £20bn black hole in a speech to parliament on Monday.

Phillips continued: “Yet now, you’re suddenly going, ‘oh my god, there’s all these things we didn’t know.’

“Was she wrong then or is she just doing theatre now?”

“Well there are things outside of what the OBR are covering,” Reed said, pointing to the overcrowding in prisons which he claimed the Tories had not been upfront about.

But Phillips recalled a previous Labour press release about the overcrowding, suggesting the party knew about the crisis ahead of the getting into government.

“There isn’t anything new that you could not have known,” the Sky News host said.

Reed hit back: “We know now the prime minister received a letter from civil servants a week before he called the election warning him about this critical failure point, and that judges would no longer be able to send convicted criminals to prison if they deserve custodial sentence.”

Phillips said: “My point is, you and your colleagues would come in here, week after week after week, saying, ‘we don’t believe them, it’s worse than they’re saying.’

“And now suddenly you’re discovering that it’s worse than they were saying!”

“It’s not only that we didn’t know – the prime minister deliberately covered it up! They covered it up!” Reed said.

He then pointed to the real cost of the Rwanda scheme.

He said the Tories said they had spent £400m to send four volunteers to Rwanda, but Labour say they have just found out they actually spent £700m.

The cabinet minister added: “We want to get away from the politics of denial and cover-up.”

Sky News Presenter Questions Minister Over Past Anti-Donald Trump Stunt

Posted on 21/07/2024 by Boris Clair

A new Labour minister was questioned by Trevor Phillips on Sunday over a previous anti-Donald Trump stunt in London.

Before the exchequer’s secretary James Murray was elected to parliament, he was the deputy mayor of London under Sadiq Khan.

He held this role from 2016 to 2019 – meaning he was in office when his boss Khan allowed a six-metre high cartoon baby blimp of the then-US president to float across the capital.

It was part of a wider protest against the divisive politician’s first formal visit to the UK in 2018.

Six years later and Trump, now the official Republican Party nominee, has a chance of returning to the White House.

Phillips recalled the famous blimp on his programme this morning, asking Murray: “Do you now wish you hadn’t chosen to insult him in this way?”

The minister replied: “Look there’s been a lot of history between the mayor and President Trump but what’s important for me is being a minister in the government is that we have a relationship with the US, which is an incredibly strong one, and one that’s in our national interests and good for our national security.”

Phillips hit back: “It’s quite tricky to have a good relationship with somebody when one of your colleague has described him as a neo-Nazi and your former boss called him literally a few weeks, a racist, a sexist and a homophobe.”

The foreign secretary David Lammy called Trump a neo-Nazi in 2018, when he was a backbencher.

Meanwhile, Labour mayor Sadiq Khan criticised Trump and said his party should “call him out” in May this year.

The ex-president previously called the mayor a “stone cold loser” after saying Trump should not visit the UK back in 2019.

“Is that the way diplomacy these days under Labour?” Phillip asked.

Murray said: “In the past there have been comments on all sides of this relationship, but what it’s important for me is the strength of a relationship –”

Phillips cut him off, saying: “The strength of a relationship with someone who called you a neo-Nazi is not going to be very strong, is it?”

He said the UK-US “transcends any individuals”, and “it’s in our interests in terms of national security and economy” to get along well.

Phillips pushed: “You understand why this is an issue, don’t you?”

He noted that Lammy is now calling Trump’s running mate JD Vance is his friend and that chancellor Rachel Reeves is talking about a trade deal with the US.

He said: “You’re all going to have change your tune aren’t you?”

Murray said Labour have “never” changed their tune in their approach to the US, and that it is up to American voters to choose their president.

Trevor Phillips Destroys Nigel Farage With One Devastating Question

Posted on 30/06/2024 by Boris Clair

Trevor Philips, “What was it about you Nigel Farage that first attracted these racists, homophobes, and anti-semites to your party?”

Nigel Farage, “The candidates came when I wasn’t there”

Trevor Philips, “Come on, Reform is your party, your own it, they know it is your party”… pic.twitter.com/WDoYoLrdPR

— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) June 30, 2024

Nigel Farage clashed with Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips after he was asked why Reform UK attracts “racists, homophobes and anti-Semites”.

The pair faced off against each other after the party was forced to ditch three candidates accused of making offensive statements.

Farage distanced himself from Edward Oakenfull, Robert Lomas and Leslie Lilley during a brutal grilling on the BBC’s Question Time on Friday night.

Reform UK has also gone to war with Channel 4 after it broadcast secretly recorded footage showing one of the party’s canvassers, Andrew Parker, advocating shooting people arriving in the UK on small boats across the Channel.

Farage has insisted it was a “set-up” because Parker is an actor – claims denied by the broadcaster.

On Sunday Morning With Trevor Philips, the presenter asked him: “Do you ever ask yourself this question, in the words of the immortal Mrs Merton, what was it about you, Nigel Farage, that first attracted these racists and homophobes and anti-Semites to your party?”

Farage, who took over as Reform UK leader earlier this month, replied: “The candidates that we’re kicking out came when I wasn’t there, that’s the first point to make.”

But Philips hit back: “Come on, Reform is your party, you own it, they knew it’s your party. So answer my question, what is it about you that attracted them?”

Farage said: “Ironically, destroying the BNP, means people who are minded that way don’t any longer have a home to go to, and some will gravitate in our direction. When we find out who they are they’ll be gone.”

The presenter then asked: “Why do you think that is? Why do they think that you are the person that’s going to give them a home?”

But Farage pointed out that at a Reform UK election rally in Birmingham later today, the “star of the show” will be Zia Yusuf, who he described as “a practicing Muslim who is going to say things about the growth of Islamic extremism”.

He added: “I can assure you that anybody who has a racist point of view, I don’t want to know.”

‘On The Brink Of Destruction’: Trevor Phillips Tells Oliver Dowden The Tories Face Election Wipeout

Posted on 30/06/2024 by Boris Clair

Oliver Dowden was told the Tories are “on the brink of destruction” with just four days to go until the general election.

Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips also told the deputy prime minister his party’s campaign had been “a mess”.

The pair clashed as voters prepare to go to the polls on Thursday and with Labour still miles ahead of their rivals.

Phillips said: “This is your 738th weekend in charge. How does it feel to be essentially on the eve of destruction for your party, because that’s what every signal tells us.”

Dowden replied: “In an election campaign you can have commentators and you can have participants. I’m a participant, and my job, whether it’s on the doorstep or in this television studio speaking to you and your viewers at home, is to make the case for the Conservative Party and to warn – mark my words, dogs bark, cats meow and Labour put up taxes.

“Don’t take that risk, it’s in your hands. We have a clear plan to control migration, to start to reduce taxes. The game is on, the fight is on, now is the time for people to make up their minds about the future of this country.”

But Phillips hit back: “Liz Truss essentially made the party of sound money into the party of market chaos, and Boris Johnson made the party of law and order the party of lawbreakers.

“It’s really striking that in this interview you seem to refuse to accept that you’re carrying that burden – the gambling, D-Day, the rain. I mean, it’s been a mess.”

Dowden said: “Having been in power for 14 years, of course we haven’t got everything right. I totally accept that and apologies have been made for various things you’ve mentioned there.

“But fundamentally this is a choice about where we go as a country for the future.”

‘A Sign Of Moral Decay’: Trevor Phillips Clashes With James Cleverly Over Top Tories Betting On Election Date

Posted on 23/06/2024 by Boris Clair

Trevor Phillips clashed with James Cleverly over the betting scandal which has sent the Tories’ election campaign into meltdown.

The Sky News presenter said it was a sign of the party’s “moral decay” and demanded to know why Rishi Sunak had not sacked those alleged to be involved.

It came as the Conservatives’ chief data officer, Nick Mason, became the latest senior official to be dragged into the affair.

According to The Sunday Times, he has taken a leave of absence amid allegations he placed dozens of bets on the date of the election.

Two Tory candidates, the party’s director of campaigns and one of the PM’s close protection officers are also under investigation.

On Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips this morning, the presenter told the home secretary: “The prime minister talked two weeks ago about the moral mission of your government to reform welfare.

“Let’s talk about morality. Is it a sign of the Conservative Party’s moral decay that some of your colleagues were more interested in stuffing their own pockets by gambling on the date of the election than on helping hard-pressed families hit by the cost of living?”

Cleverly replied: “I’m not in any way going to defend people who placed bets on that There is an investigation by the Gambling Commission and we have been told very, very clearly that we are not to discuss the investigations.”

Phillips went on to ask the minister why Sunak had not taken firm action against those involved.

He said: “The prime minister claims to be furious, but he says it’s all got to go through this process. Why doesn’t he, like any other employer might do in this situation, call in the alleged offenders, ask them ‘did you place a bet or did you not place a bet’ … and if the answer is yes, sack them?”

After Cleverly said that was the Gambling Commission’s job, Phillips told him: “No, no, no – he’s the prime minister. These people work for him. He can do whatever he wants.

“If it were you, he’d say ‘James, tell me the truth. Did you or did you not?’. And you, being an honest man, would say yes or no.”

But the home secretary replied: “I don’t necessarily know the process in detail, but the Gambling Commission is the appropriate body for this. They have said they’re investigating and they’ve also said it is inappropriate for us to comment on what is a live investigation.”

Phillips hit back: “He’s the prime minister – he doesn’t get told what to do by the Gambling Commission.”

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