Gary Neville has condemned the government’s “immoral” mini-Budget, which last week outlined tax cuts set to benefit the most wealthy during the cost of living crisis.
The former England international accused Liz Truss of “taking the absolute Mickey out of us” by helping workers at the top end of the tax bracket while offering significantly less to the poorest households.
In Friday’s mini-Budget, chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng axed the 45p top rate of income tax giving high earners making more than £150,000 an extra £10,000 a year, while also scrapping the cap on bonuses for bankers.
The chancellor’s £45bn tax-slashing package was met with alarm by top economists, markets and some Tory MPs, fuelling predictions sterling could plunge to parity with the US dollar by the end of the year.
“People are struggling to pay their energy bills. I don’t know any person on more than £150,000 a year that will think it’s the right thing to do to basically give us more money,” Mr Neville told the Daily Mirror.
“They want better public services, better health, education, doctor waiting times to come down.”
The former Manchester United star will attend the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Monday, appearing beside Sir Keir Starmer and shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell at an event in Liverpool when he will tell party members “this is the time now to get behind Keir 100 per cent”.
Mr Neville heaped praise on Sir Keir, adding that he gets on well with the Labour leader despite being a staunch Arsenal supporter.
“Keir is smart, he’s held a very senior position at the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service). He’s shown that he has got leadership qualities, he is respected. He is a change that cannot come quick enough. We need change at the top,” Mr Neville said.
However, the Sky Sports pundit took a swipe at Mr Kwarteng, noting videos of the chancellor fidgeting and smirking at the Queen’s funeral just days before announcing the mini-Budget.
He went on: “I don’t know any compassionate, normal-thinking man or woman in this country that would think with the cost of living crisis and people concerned about food that the right thing to do is to remove the cap on bankers’ bonuses.
Britain’s Labour Party leader Keir Starmer speaks during the tribute to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth at Britain’s Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool,
“They are so cruel this government that even wealthy people are bemused. We know this is not a time for us to be able to get more money.
“However, they have been so under-invested in by this government over a 12-year period. They continue to just laugh at us constantly with what they’re doing.”
Sir Keir, who will address his party’s conference on Tuesday, said the government’s trickle-down economics is a “p*** take.”
“That’s their [the Conservative party’s] politics: make the rich, richer; make the super rich even richer. The theory is that if they are made even richer, some of it may one day trickle down into the pockets of other people,” Sir Keir said.
The Labour leader announced plans to end dependence on fossil fuels, with all the country’s electricity generated by renewable and nuclear power by 2030. Labour claims the plan would save UK households a total of £93 billion over the rest of the decade – or an average saving of £475 for each household every year.
Sir Keir said the plan would also allow the UK to be free from being “exposed to dictators” after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine led to the current spike in global gas prices.
The green energy revolution is being presented as an alternative path to growth after Friday’s mini-budget saw Liz Truss and Mr Kwarteng set out a massive package of tax cuts in the hope of reviving a sluggish economy.
