Miliband blasts ‘same old Tories’ on tax cuts

Mr Miliband mocked the promise of a £48 tax cut by increasing the tax threshold, saying that last year’s Budget increase in VAT was costing families £450 a year.

People knew from history that “every Tory tax cut ends up costing them more”, he said, adding: “Same old Tories, same old deceit.”

Mr Miliband said it was not the Chancellor rescuing Britain, but Britain that needed rescuing from the Chancellor. “When families look at this Budget, look at the squeeze on their living standards, look at the job losses in their communities, they will conclude it is hurting, but it isn’t working.”

Responding to the Chancellor’s statement in a rowdy Commons chamber, Mr Miliband said the Government had made the wrong choice “to go too far and too fast”.

He also likened Mr Osborne to Derek Trotter, the cockney wheeler dealer character known as Del Boy in the BBC1 comedy Only Fools And Horses.

The Labour leader said: “The Chancellor has cut (fuel) duty by 1p, but he’s whacked up VAT on fuel by 3p. Families won’t be fooled – it’s Del Boy economics.”

Later Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls pointed out that the Office of Budget Responsibility had increased unemployment forecasts by 200,000 in 2013.