Labour should be applauding Jeremy Hunt’s autumn Budget

The Tories have done the right thing, but they’ll get no reward for it, writes John Rentoul

Hunt’s framing of the autumn statement as ‘honest’ and ‘fair’ makes it hard for Labour to criticise it, although Reeves did a good job in the Commons (PA)

Rachel Reeves, in her response to the autumn statement, accused the chancellor of playing politics “by attempting to lay so-called traps for the Labour Party”. That was a strange way of saying that the Conservatives were doing what Labour would have done if it had been in power.

The main “trap” is the postponement of deep cuts in public spending until after the next election. That means that Labour will find it hard to promise public sector largesse at the election because the Tories and journalists will ask: “Where will the money come from?”

But that is just as much a trap for the government, which is proposing to go into the election promising what is bound to be labelled “austerity”. Not only that, but there are still some tax rises to come: Jeremy Hunt announced that the cut in stamp duty will be reversed in 2025. As an election-winning message, “vote for austerity and tax rises” lacks an obvious appeal.