Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said he is “particularly thrilled” that draught duty changes will save him “over £1 a week” on beer.
Mr Farage also claimed Chancellor Rachel Reeves had positioned herself as the “fund manager of the nation” as a result of Wednesday’s Budget, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey warned voters may lack “a sense of hope, urgency and the promise of a fair deal”.
Mr Farage told the Commons: “Invest, invest, invest is what we heard at the start of this Budget speech, and I thought, ‘Yes, that’s what we need, absolutely’.
“Not just the big multinationals that come to smart conferences, but equally, you know, hundreds of thousands of people putting their own risk capital into start-ups, into new businesses, but no.
“This invest, invest, invest is going to be done by the Chancellor on our behalf, not just a top economist at the Bank of England but she’s now going to be the fund manager of the nation, investing money and trying to pick winners.”
The MP for Clacton in Essex added: “I do think picking winners is wrong.
“I think we leave this to the free market, and we let people either make money or we let them lose money and frankly, you know, if they do lose their dough, well, that’s just the way these things work.”
Asked by Labour MP Sarah Owen (Luton North) whether he would “prefer to have investment from maybe the Russian government” rather than from Westminster, Mr Farage suggested “one or two Members of the House ought simply to grow up”.
He earlier told MPs: “I think the decision to put money into potholes was clever, the fuel duty freeze very, very welcome, especially for those living in rural parts of our country, but for me the big one of course is the 1p a pint off draught beer, which I’ve worked out will save me over £1 a week, so I’m particularly thrilled with that.”
While alcohol duty rates on non-draught products will increase in line with RPI inflation, draught duty will be cut by 1.7%, knocking a penny off a pint in the pub.
Sir Ed said: “People were looking to this Budget for a clean break with those failures of the last few years, for a sense of hope, urgency and the promise of a fair deal.
“But I fear the Budget won’t deliver all that.
“The Conservatives left behind an enormous mess in our NHS but I’m afraid it won’t be fixed unless the Government fixes social care too.
“The cost-of-living crisis won’t be solved by hitting families, pensioners, family farms and struggling small businesses, and our economy won’t grow strongly again unless we repair our broken relationship with Europe.”
Sir Ed, himself a carer to his disabled son John, accused Labour of “ignoring the elephant in the NHS waiting room – the crisis in social care” and lacking a “long-term solution for social care”.
On pay and taxes, he said: “I do welcome, when it comes to the cost of living, the increase in the national minimum wage, though I urge the Chancellor to extend that higher wage to apprentices as well, but it is very concerning to see the Chancellor repeat a number of the Conservatives’ mistakes today.
“Raising employers’ national insurance is a tax on jobs and on people.”
Employers’ national insurance contributions will rise by 1.2 percentage points to 15%, the Chancellor said.
She also unveiled a 6.7% rise in the minimum wage for over-21s, from £11.44 to £12.21.
