‘Go out there and get that new job,’ he said
Brits struggling to make ends meet amid the escalating cost of living crisis should get a better paid job or cut back on spending, a Tory MP has said.
Conservative party Chairman Jake Berry made the comments in an interview with Sky News‘ Sophy Ridge on Sunday.
“People know when they get their bills, they can either cut their consumption or get higher salaries or higher wages and go out there and get that new job,” Berry said.
“That’s the approach the government is taking in trying to create growth,” he added.
Jake Berry MP tells Sophy #Ridge that the Conservatives want people to get 'higher-paid jobs' to stimulate economic growth.
Latest: https://t.co/WUnquWvHqf pic.twitter.com/uY7H24X1lx
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 2, 2022
Berry, who is MP for Rossendale and Darwen in Lancashire, confirmed he attended a champagne reception, where hedge fund bosses are said to have “egged on” Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng to crack on with tax cutting plans.
But Berry dismissed these claims, stating: “I certainly didn’t hear him make those comments. I was there so I listened to what he said and what he talked about was his plan for growth.”
https://twitter.com/Jim42409535/status/1576479918128787457
Berry claimed the event was not for hedge fund managers, although he said he knew at least one there. Instead, he said the event was actually for Tory donors and “Britain’s leading entrepreneurs” as part of the “normal drumbeat” of party fundraising events.
Though the MP said people should be “lauded” for supporting political parties.
Have a listen to @JakeBerry. Jake is trying to pretend that it’s perfectly reasonable to have the hedge funders in for champagne after the budget so they can all congratulate the chancellor. https://t.co/YiS8eRa7Vz
— Karl Turner MP (@KarlTurnerMP) October 2, 2022
He said: “We often have drinks receptions for donors in the Conservative Party and in fact these people should be lauded because we don’t have public funding of political parties and these are people who go out and make money and donate to political parties in the same way as they do for the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats.”
Berry argued that it was “nonsense” to say the tax cuts are helping the rich most, despite being shown a Resolution Foundation graph which clearly showed how higher earners benefit most under the government’s plans.
He shrugged off significant Labour leads in recent polls, suggesting they will look “very different” closer to the election, which he suggested could be in April 2024.
Related links:
- Petition calling for an early general election approaches 400,000 signatures
- Tory donor and Rees-Mogg’s business partner quietly appointed as trade minister
- Liz Truss thought she’d get an easy ride on local radio… then she got absolutely skewered
