Labour’s Lucy Powell didn’t miss a beat in the Commons when Tory MP Jesse Norman tried to tear into the government’s Budget—only to have his own past thrown back at him.
Norman, shadow Commons leader and former Treasury minister, had a go at Rachel Reeves’ decision to hike National Insurance contributions for employers, calling it a “tax raid” with “no compensation whatsoever.” He even compared the Budget to the dystopian chaos of Mad Max, claiming it left the economy looking like “wreckage strewn everywhere.” Subtle, it was not.
But Powell, Labour’s Commons leader, had her reply ready—and it was brutal. “I know the shadow leader is fairly new to opposition,” she began, “but the idea of opposition is to oppose the government, not his own record.”
She didn’t stop there. “When his government raised NICs [National Insurance Contributions] in 2021—not just on businesses but workers too—he was the financial secretary to the Treasury. He stood right there at the despatch box and called it a ‘profoundly Conservative thing to do.’”
Powell smirked, adding, “He seemed to be for it then and against it now. I’m confused—maybe he could clear that up for me?”
The zinger left Norman floundering, proving yet again that Labour has made a sport of turning Tory criticisms back on their own heads.
Norman isn’t the only Conservative to fall foul of Labour’s quick-witted comebacks recently. On Tuesday, energy secretary Ed Miliband reminded Claire Coutinho, a Tory frontbencher, that “the job of opposition is to oppose the government, not yourself” after she criticised Labour’s carbon emissions targets—despite having backed weaker policies herself.
And deputy PM Angela Rayner wasn’t about to let Alex Burghart off the hook earlier this month when he tried to call out inflation creeping up from 1.7% to 2.3% in October. Rayner quipped, “The honourable member was minister for growth when, under Liz Truss, inflation hit 11.1% and growth flatlined. So we’re doing much better than he did!”
It seems Labour has a clear strategy: when the Tories come for their policies, remind them of the mess they left behind. For Jesse Norman, the moral of the story is simple: if you’re going to bring up Mad Max metaphors, make sure you’re not the one who lit the fuse.
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