Rachel Reeves

What I don't like about these changes is the so-called legislative backstop.

So Rachel Reeves wants the pension companies to invest a certain portion of their funds in the UK to help grow the UK economy.

17 of the largest pension providers have said, OK, we'll sign up to that in practice.

But nothing is set in stone.

It's your money, not the government's, not the employer's, it's yours.

It's your money as part of your wage, simply deferred to when you need it most.

Rachel Reeves is treating UK pensions like it's her money, and that is a massive mistake.

We need to foster a culture or a feeling of ownership in our pensions, because that is what will drive better outcomes for the UK population.

So yeah,

just looking back at since we last spoke, and he was just ahead of Rachel Reid's last budget.

I must admit, at the time, I thought you were being a little bit harsh, saying that our economic policy was being run by children.

But I totally agree.

to help charities in england make their buildings more efficient make their work more efficient and that came as a immediate consequence of the then civil society minister stuart andrew lobbying jeremy hunt and this surprise announcement was sort of made before the actual meat of the budget now at the time people said 100 million pounds Not that much in the grand scheme of things, but charities were at least given a very dedicated mention at that point.

But then by the time you're getting to 2024 and Rachel Reeves' first budget as Chancellor, that's when we see that critical 1.4 billion hike to the sector's National Insurance Bill announced.

And that, I think, has been a thorn in the side, really, of the sector, hasn't it? And when we see these conversations about charities closing or having to make restructures or cut services...

That increase in national insurance contributions on the part of employers is something that is just brought up time and again.

This is like a serious act of self-harm.

So through Rachel Reeves and then John Healey, they've smashed businesses, overtaxed them.

They haven't got the money for the defence of the country.

They've got no growth in the country.

So weird how that guy lost his job, isn't it? You know, when Angela Rayner was up, it's not Angela Rayner.

Rachel Reeves was up there just telling everybody off, don't look what you made me do.

I miss those two.

For comedy, let's be honest, although, you know, Andy Burnham, you know, he's becoming, you know, when I do the impression, because a lot of people are, you know, talking about him being a regular guy, but I'm very much going with the weird intonation.

But it's going to take them years, as far as I can make out, to really confront this.

Rachel Reeves, the former Treasury Minister, was asked for £10 billion for a thing like this, and she said absolutely no.

The fear is that the attacker still has the advantage and that we do have some dreadful upset with a limited missile attack or a drone attack.

And the whole of Western Europe is extremely vulnerable and particularly allies in the Mediterranean.

Yeah, so don't pre-announce what you did.

Because we had the same thing, Rachel Reeves went on a breakfast, was it a smoked salmon offensive?

Yes.

She went on a smoked salmon offensive and then she went live on breakfast TV and all the broadcasting outlets took it, warning us that taxes were going to go up.

The sad truth is that the first budget under Andy Burnham on 28 October 2026 was overall worse than those under Keir Starmer, not better.

Rachel Reeves did increase taxes, most on employers, by £40 billion in 2024 and raised the NHS budget by £24 billion.

Cuts continue in NHS trusts and the total NHS England's waiting list is 7.4 million and rising, but visibly there are more outpatient sessions.

Fools.