Moment Labour minister squirms on TV as Question Time audience member bluntly tells her the Budget has ‘screwed a lot of people over’

Labour‘s Sarah Jones felt the pressure as a Question Time audience member bluntly told her the Budget had ‘screwed a lot of people over’.

The Minister of State for Industry was grilled on last night’s showing as one member of the public asked when working people would feel the benefits of the Budget.

‘Quite frankly, you’ve screwed a lot of people over: pensioners, farmers… and it’s alright saying “make an unpopular decision now”… but when are we going to feel the benefits because what we don’t want is another return to austerity,’ he asked.

Ms Jones insisted ‘there will be no return to austerity’ before blaming the last government for inherited finance problems and responding that measures to raise the living wage would immediately help the worst off.

The Chancellor’s monumental October Budget has proven divisive over its tax grab on employers and inheritance, with tens of millions to be set aside for public spending to ‘rebuild’ Britain.

The guest blasted the last government but said Labour’s Budget ‘screwed a lot of people over’

Sarah Jones insisted Labour would not return to austerity and some would feel change now

‘But when are we going to feel the benefits?’ the audience member asked the minister

The audience member began by acknowledging ‘I accept we have had 14 years of sheer incompetence which needs to be fixed’ under the last government, receiving a round of applause.

He then continued ‘but surely better decisions could have been made’ before listing some of the demographics hit hard by the Budget.

‘Many Labour voters will go against you,’ he began, before being cut off.

He then added: ‘It’s all right saying, “Make an unpopular decision now”. Many governments when they come into government make an unpopular Budget. But when are we going to feel…’

Ms Jones finished the sentence: ‘The benefits, yep.’

She assured him a return to austerity was ‘not the plan in the Budget and that is not the long term plan’.

Ms Jones told the audience: ‘The second thing I want to say is, I came in as a minister in the Department of Business and Trade.

‘It’s where the money for the Horizon Scandal was supposed to be. It wasn’t there.

‘It’s where the money for the advanced manufacturing fund: £4.5bn, important to this region… There was no money for that.

‘The scale of the problem was significant.’

Answering the guest’s question, she added: ‘First, people on the lowest income will get a benefit now because we have increased the living wage to a point where three million people will get a pay rise that will be significant and will make a difference.’

Fiona Bruce hosted the hour of live debate from Hartlepool, where Croydon West MP Ms Jones was joined by Matt Vickers, Conservative MP for Stockton West, as well as political pundit Tim Montgomerie and writer Bonnie Greer.

The panel also spoke on the election of Donald Trump, prospects for the war in Ukraine and Labour’s increase to tuition fees, as well as the effects of the Budget.

Ms Jones cited the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast that by the end of the parliament ‘there will be growth and people will be getting better off’, adding: ‘We want to beat that.

‘But I understand where you’re coming from. As someone who voted Labour, it’s my job to persuade you that you’re better off…’

Ms Greer, Chancellor of Kingston University, jibed: ‘He’s got to feel that he’s better off – not persuade him!’

Labour’s first Budget saw huge changes to tax that it said would raise an additional £36.2bn, or just over one per cent of GDP.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, this would result in a rise in taxation as a share of GDP, the second largest of any post-war fiscal event by the end of the decade.

Rachel Reeves delivers her Autumn budget statement in the Commons on October 30

Labour promised going into the election that it would not raise tax on what it called ‘working people’ if it won.

But the government was challenged on its definition ahead of the Budget – and after, as employers and farmers felt significant hikes.

The rate of employers’ National Insurance Contributions will rise by 1.2 percentage points to 15 per cent from April 6, 2025.

Experts warn this could be felt by employees, though, as pressure on finances slows wage growth – a key issue for many young people trying to keep up with rising house prices.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves urged firms to accept reduced profits rather than squeezing staff wages. 

The Chancellor has since conceded that workers would be hit by the knock-on impact of her Budget, which will raise taxes by £40 billion a year.   

She insisted: ‘I said that it will have consequences. It will mean businesses will have to absorb some of this through profits and it is likely to mean that wage increases might be slightly less than they otherwise would have been.’

Farmers also worry they may be put out of business by changes to inheritance tax.

Under the reforms, the tax will be levied at an effective rate of 20 per cent on the value of business and agricultural assets over £1million – axing a previous exemption. 

Outraged farmers have called the move ‘bonkers’ and warning that unaffordable tax bills faced by the inheritors of family farms will lead to them going under. 

Farmers have also contested the claim that it will only affect ‘super-wealthy’ land owners.

Emma Gray, a shepherdess from Argyll and Bute on the west coast of Scotland, declared the policy ‘a disgusting land grab’.   

‘A lot of family farms are going to go under when they have to pay the death duties,’ she said in a TikTok video. 

‘And you might think a farm being worth £2million sounds like a lot of money, but a lot of the time the person who has the farm has already been paying out siblings who also have a stake in the farm. 

‘So they spend their whole life paying it off and are ready to pass it on to the next generation – but now they’re going to be hit with inheritance tax, which is going to make the whole thing completely unaffordable. 

Builders, electricians and farmers in Britain are also set to be hit by a new stealth tax buried in the Budget.

A new rule set to be introduced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves will classify double-cat pickups – often used by builders, electricians and farmers – as company cars for tax purposes.

Farmers protest outside the Northern Farming Conference in Hexham, Northumberland

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the country had ‘voted for change’ and vowed to ‘invest’ as she mounted one of the biggest raids in history in the Commons

The new rule will start from April 2025, the Sun reports.

Currently cab pick-ups are treated as good vehicles and which means they are treated as essential tools of the trade allowing for certain tax benefits.

But under the new rule, they will be categorised as company cars which will come with higher tax implications.

This change will increase the tax burden on a typical-cab pick up by as much as 211 per year, according to analysis by the Countryside Alliance. 

A Nissan Navara Tekna, commonly used by workers, which costs around £33,265, and emits 167g/km of CO2, would see its benefits in kind (BIK) tax rise dramatically—from £3,960 to £12,308.