Politics

Gary Neville summed up Kwasi Kwarteng's week with just one sentence

Gary Neville summed up Kwasi Kwarteng's week with just one sentence
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng says mini-budget will favour people ‘across the income scale’
BBC

Gary Neville has cut through all the noise surrounding Friday's mini-budget summing up Kwasi Kwarteng's week with just one sentence.

Kwarteng has faced plenty of criticism after unveiling his first plan as Chancellor on Friday, which included significant tax cuts for the UK's highest earners.

People accused the measures of only benefiting those at the top, and the pound has plunged by nearly five per cent to an all-time low after the announcement.

The currency tumbled to an unprecedented $1.0327, extending a 3.61 per cent dive from Friday when Kwarteng unleashed the historic tax cuts.

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Neville seemed to sum up the feelings of many people when he took aim at Kwarteng in a new interview.

The former England international footballer hit out at the Chancellor when speaking to The Mirror, referencing the controversy surrounding his behaviour at the Queen’s funeral where he appeared to be laughing.

The former football ripped into Kwarteng's mini-budgetGetty Images

Neville described Kwarteng as “the guy who woke up last week and laughed at the Queen’s funeral on Monday, then went and removed the cap on bankers’ bonuses on Thursday, laughing at the whole country. These guys are taking the absolute Mickey out of us.”

He also called the tax cuts as “immoral… madness”, saying: "People are struggling to pay their energy bills. I don't know any person on more than £150,000 a year that will think it's the right thing to do to basically give us more money."

“They want better public services, better health, education, doctor waiting times to come down.”

Neville is set to appear at a Labour event in Liverpool, and said that Keir Starmer as prime minister would be “a change that cannot come quick enough”.

He went on: “It's immoral to think at this moment in time, tax cuts should be given to the wealthy when people are so nervous and desperate. The reason I'm there is to highlight with my voice that it’s just wrong.

“The problem we have is that the Conservative Party is very good at telling you that green is red and blue is green. We've got to the point whereby they make you feel like waiting two weeks to see your doctor is a good result.

“They have depressed our ambitions to such a low. I think we will wake up and look back in years to come at this era [of Tory government] and think what the hell were we doing sitting back and not speaking up. And that’s why I’m speaking up at this moment.”

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