GB News host Camilla Tominey grilled Labour MP and Environment Secretary Steve Reed on how the party plans to fund the £20 billion shortfall in public finances.
The MP explained that they plan to use the “public sector” and “break out the Tory-doom loop.”
Speaking to GB News he said: “What we’re going to do is break out of this Tory doom loop of a low growth economy, leading to a high tax economy, and those two things go hand in hand.
“Labour’s approach will not be to have recourse to further taxation. Labour’s ruling out any tax rise. Labour’s approach will be to grow the economy, and we’ve already started making the announcements that will grow the economy.
Steve Reed said that they plan to use “private sector investment” to help plug the gap
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“1.5 million new homes, jobs and investment up and down the country. We need to fix the energy infrastructure up and down the country as we harness the power of wind, wave, solar and nuclear.”
Camilla said: “I totally understand the argument about self-sufficiency. Goodness me, we’ve witnessed it with our bills in recent years, we need to be more self-sufficient and not reliant on others for our energy.
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“But there’s there’s a disconnect here because we’ve got Rachel Reeves talking about having inherited the worst economic legacy since the Second World War.
“We’ve got talk of 20 billion black holes. We’ve got talk of ambitious net zero energy targets to be met in six years time, which is undoubtedly going to be costly.
“At no point can any minister come into the studio and ever tell me how you’re going to get the money to pay for this black hole to be filled? So you’re saying you won’t tax working people?”
He responded: “Investment, predominantly private sector investment.”
Camilla Tominey said no minister has given her an answer
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Camillia further prodded: “What incentive would the private sector have to invest further with corporation tax now up 6 per cent?
He fired back: “What you are talking about, those tax rises were Tory tax rises. The Conservative Party did that.”
He added: “The reason the Conservatives put taxes up 26 times since the last general election is because they failed to grow the economy.
“Had they done that, there would be £50 billion more in the Exchequer today to invest in our failing and broken public services. It is growth that is the problem.”
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to reveal the £20 billion gap
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The Chancellor is set to respond to the recommendations of independent pay review bodies on Monday, when she will also argue in Parliament that the Tories left Labour with a dire spending inheritance, including a £20 billion black hole.
Reports have suggested teachers and some 1.3 million NHS staff could be in line for a 5.5 per cent pay boost, which could cost about £3.5 billion more than had been budgeted for. Economists believe this could rise to about £10 billion if other pay review bodies give similar advice on workforces such as police and prisons officers and doctors and dentists.
Sir Keir Starmer has previously acknowledged there would be a cost if failing to follow the recommendations of the pay review bodies led to a fresh wave of industrial disputes in the public services.
Labour did not deny reports that Reeves could on Monday make the same argument as she signs off on the pay increases despite the shortfall in Government funding plans.