The Conservatives have said that the "disappointing" rise in inflation is a cause of worry. Kevin Hollinrake, Shadow Levelling Up Secretary, said the 0.5% rise in inflation from December to January was a direct result of Rachel Reeves' budget. Report by Faragt. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00Yes, of course we should be worried about it, because this affects the prices people
00:05pay for things, be it food, be it energy costs.
00:09So yes, of course we should be worried about it, because we're trying to improve the economic
00:14fortunes of the people of this country.
00:17And it's disappointing to see this increase.
00:21And also, we've seen since Labour took over, we've seen increased inflation, which is bad.
00:26We've seen decreased growth, which is clearly bad.
00:30And we've seen decreased employment, which is clearly bad.
00:35And these are all a consequence of the choices made by Rachel Reeves.
00:41The first six months of her tenure, she simply talked down the economy, the gloom and doom,
00:46which is bad for confidence.
00:49And then she hit the economy with £70 billion of tax and spend, after saying she had a fully
00:55costed and fully funded manifesto.
00:58So all those things have hit the thing that she values most and needs most, which is growth.
01:05And so, yes, so many bad choices and so many adverse outcomes.
01:11Well, look at the facts, that's what I make of it.
01:14Inflation was 2% when it took over, it's now 3%.
01:18The UK economy was the fastest growing in the G7, the largest economies in the world.
01:23It's now the slowest growing.
01:25Unemployment was increasing and now it's decreasing, 14,000 fewer jobs in December.
01:32That's the reality.
01:33So that's not true.
01:34We've been through a difficult time.
01:35Nobody can deny that.
01:37And we tried to steer a decent course through that time, through COVID and the cost of living
01:41crisis, and we got to the other side of it.
01:44So it is a nonsense to say that they inherited this terrible economic backdrop.
01:52It's simply wrong.
01:53And all the facts point in a completely other direction.
01:56And what Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer have to do, they have to hold their hands up and
02:00say, we made some bad choices and reverse those choices, because that would then start
02:05to stimulate the economy into growth.
02:07And that's what we need.