Express columnist Carole Malone has accused Rachel Reeves of “living in an alternative universe” after the Chancellor unveiled her Budget earlier today. Ms Malone told our podcast The Daily Expresso that a £22billion hole in the public finances referenced by Ms Reeves was estaimated to now be much larger – between £30billion and £50billion. “But she’s still blaming the Tories, she’s still blaming Brexit,” Carole told host JJ Anisiobi. In addition, she pointed out that inflation is on the up, as the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) upgraded its inflation forecast for 2025 by 0.2 percentage points to 3.5%.
“It’s like she doesn’t know what’s happening,” Carole fumed. “She’s literally talking tosh. She’s not talking the reality of what her government has done, and what these latest moves are going to do.” Britain has “never been on a more insecure footing, thanks to her and what she has done”, the GB News contributor added.
Ms Malone also highlighted that the OBR had downgraded growth for next year, despite upgrading this year’s to 1.5%, up from the previous forecast of 1.0%.
Experts downgraded its 2026 growth forecast to 1.4%.
It had previously estimated 1.9%.
The UK’s economic output is expected to expand by 1.5% in 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030.
Specialists predicted also that debt will rise as a share of GDP from 95% this year, and will end the decade at 96% – two percentage points higher than projected in March, and twice the debt level of the average advanced economy.
Commenting on the leak of the OBR’s analysis before the Chancellor appeared at the despatch box, Carole speculated that it might have been done on purpose, so Ms Reeves could not “pretend like it’s all going to be ok”.
The Chancellor announced a host of tax hikes in her Budget (Image: Getty)
She added: “But they’ve [the OBR] actually said, right from the off, ‘no, it’s not going to be ok.'”
Property tax changes will mean that Carole will effectively be paying double council tax, she told JJ, as her home is “not far” from the £2million threshold.
Owners of properties in England valued at more than the watermark value are to be hit with a surcharge of at least £2,500 from 2028.
“My house price will probably go down, because people that have houses worth £2million or more are going to lower them. So people in my bracket are going to have to lower ours.”
Carole added: “Council tax is supposed to be about services given to the people in the area. This is not about services, this is another form of tax and a big tax.”
