The Conservative party’s new shadow chancellor slammed a “Budget of broken promises” as he took up the job.
Leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch has named Mel Stride the party’s shadow chancellor of the Exchequer.
In the House of Commons on Monday evening (November 4), he said opportunities were missed in Labour’s first Budget last week.
He said: “So, what do we have to show for this Budget? Compared with the spring: lower growth, lower living standards, lower wages, higher taxes, higher borrowing, and increased interest rates and mortgages.
“This is a Budget of broken promises, and when the dust has finally settled and this lot have gone, as we step over the fallen - the former farmers, the pensioners, the one-time businesspeople, the poor and the vulnerable - there we will find the shattered remains of the working people of this country, betrayed by a party that lied to them, and they will never forget it.”
Stride’s comments came as part of a debate on income tax.
He was first elected to represent North Devon in 2010. In his time in parliament he has held positions in the business and energy departments.
In 2017 Stride was appointed financial secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General, a position he held for two years.
While in October 2019, Stride was elected chair of the Treasury select committee and after a cabinet reshuffle under Rishi Sunak he was made secretary of state for work and pensions.
Helen Whately will take over the shadow pensions minister job from Stride.
In a post on X, she said: "It’s an honour to be appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. [The Conservative party is] the party of work and aspiration. Now more than ever our country needs everyone to unleash their potential. And I’ll work hard to hold this Labour government to account."
Whately has been the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent since 2015 and was the minister for health and social care between 2020 and 2021 and again from October 2022 until this year's election.
In between these jobs, she served as exchequer secretary to the Treasury from 2021 to 2022.
tara.o'connor@ft.com
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