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Conservative shadow Chancellor Mel Stride lost his cool in the Commons this afternoon as he refused to hold back when condemning Rachel Reeves' economic record.

Mr Stride accused the Chancellor of being a reckless gambler who had bet the house on red, and lost.

The tone of his attack was so brutal is forced the Speaker to intervene to cool tensions.

Taking to his feet in Parliament, Mr Stride blasted: "At the last Budget, the Rt Hon lady said she would bring stability to the public finances. But this statement - more appropriately referred to as an emergency budget - has brought her to a cold hard reckoning."

"She has become very fond recently to talking about how the world has changed, well of course, it has Mr Speaker. This country was growing at the fastest rate in the G7 only a year ago. And just as the OECD, and the Bank of England and other forecasters, and now we learn today the OBR have stated, growth has been halved this year.

"Cut in two as a consequence of the decisions and the choices that the Rt Hon lady made on her watch.

"She says that none of this is her fault. It's the war in Ukraine, it's President Trump, it's tariffs, it's President Putin, it's the Tories' legacy - it is anybody but her!

"What the British people know is that this is a consequence of her choices. She is the architect of her own misfortune. She talked down the economy so that business confidence crashed through the floor. She coinfected a £22 billion black - a smokescreen to cover up the fact they reneged on their promises to the British people at the last election.

Mr Stride concluded: "She rolled the dice on a wafer-thin margin, and she lost! Reckless, with her fingers crossed. She fiddled the targets and she missed them!"

At this point the Speaker was forced to step in and suggested Mr Stride reflect on his no-nonsense wording.

Mr Stride also pointed out that the OBR has said that inflation will be running at twice the level forecast under the Tories in 2024.

He pointed out: "This is going to mean prices bearing down on households and on businesses, right across the country, because of her choices."

MORE TO COME...

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