Key facts
- Emma Reynolds, chief secretary to the Treasury, said she did not think employers are working people.
- Reynolds said the Budget raised tax on landlords and savers by two percentage points.
- Reynolds said the government did not raise the headline rate of income tax, VAT or employee national insurance.
- Shadow defense secretary James Cartlidge said employing people is one of the hardest jobs there is.
Emma Reynolds, the chief secretary to the Treasury, said in an interview on GB News that she did not think employers are working people, drawing a distinction between employers and employees. The report did not date the interview.
Reynolds was challenged over the Budget's two percentage point increases in tax on landlords and savers, and said the government had not raised the headline rate of income tax, VAT or national insurance for employees. She said the Budget tax increases were targeted and fair and that the government had offered business rates relief to tens of thousands of small businesses.
Conservative figures criticized the remarks. Shadow defense secretary James Cartlidge said on X that employing people is one of the hardest jobs there is, and Conservative frontbencher Neil Shastri-Hurst said the comments would come as news to small business owners.
The interview referred to Paul Bowen, who runs pie shops in Chorley, Lancashire, and had spoken about cost pressures after the Budget.