George Osborne “doesn’t live in the real world”

George Osborne’s failure to mention the Redcar steel plant, where 1,700 workers are losing their jobs, shows that he “doesn’t live in the real world”, according to Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.

Osborne made a half hour speech at the Conservative conference in Manchester earlier today, with McDonnell slamming the Chancellor’s omission of the job losses from his address. McDonnell is today visiting Redcar with Shadow Business Secretary Angela Eagle to speak to steelworkers losing their livelihoods.

“They want substantive answers in the here and now,” he said, “And sadly George Osborne failed to offer them any today.”

McDonnell also attacked Osborne for cutting tax credits, and claimed that there has been nothing in the speech for “people living in the real world”:

“He said the Tories are the ‘builders’ but he has sat on the side lines for the last five years and failed to tackle the housing crisis in this country – as a result housebuilding is at its lowest level in peacetime since the 1920s.

“It was very disappointing that the Chancellor also had nothing to say to those people living in the real world who are seeing their tax credits cut by £1,300 a year, and who are struggling to pay sky high rents or are struggling to find enough work to get to the end of each month.

“Instead, he spoke to the few, those millionaires sitting in the hall who will benefit from an inheritance tax cut he is giving them, and to those bankers who were also sat alongside them in the hall who’ll benefit from income and corporation tax cuts.”

Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham also criticised the speech, saying that the Northern Powerhouse rhetoric did not stand up to reality: