Raab and Rayner clash as deputies take over
DEPUTY prime minister Dominic Raab was told to go back to his ‘sun lounger’ as he clashed with his Labour counterpart Angela Rayner over the cost of living yesterday.
Mr Raab, standing in at the Commons for Boris Johnson at prime minister’s questions, was asked by Ms Rayner if he could ‘tell us how many days a worker on the minimum wage would have to work this year in order to afford a night at a luxury hotel, say in Crete’.
The ex-foreign secretary was criticised last month for being on a luxury Greek holiday while Kabul fell to the Taliban. Mr Raab criticised Labour’s economic record before adding: ‘Under this government we cut income tax, saving every worker £1,200 each year.
‘We have introduced and extended the national living wage so full-time workers are £4,000 better-off each year, we have doubled the free childcare for working parents worth up to £5,000 for every child every year.’ Ms Rayner countered: ‘He talks about the economy, he doesn’t even know how much his own holiday cost. So, let me tell him. A worker on the minimum wage would need to work an extra 50 days to pay for a single night at his favourite resort.’
Ms Rayner said a worker on £18,000 a year was losing more than £1,100 to tax rises while Mr Raab was ‘complaining’ about having to share the ‘115-room taxpayer-funded mansion’ Chevening with foreign secretary Liz Truss.
Mr Raab replied: ‘She should check her facts as Chevening is funded by a charity, not a penny of taxpayers’ money.’ He added: ‘Let me also tell her the most disastrous thing for energy bills of hard-working people across the country would be to follow Labour’s plan to nationalise the energy companies, which the CBI says would cost as much as £2,000 on bills.’