Rachel Reeves is facing fresh criticism from senior business leaders after John Roberts, chief executive of online electricals retailer AO World, described her Budget as “tone deaf” and “a bit pathetic”, accusing the Chancellor of lacking any real understanding of business or entrepreneurship.
Speaking to Times Radio, Roberts said he was left “pretty speechless” by Reeves’ comments about the importance of supporting entrepreneurs.
“She has absolutely no appreciation of business and doesn’t seem interested in finding any,” he said. “All the rhetoric that I hear is to demonise those that succeed. The wealth creators need to keep paying so she can fritter it away on welfare.”
Roberts added that the only meaningful reform he noticed was the decision to remove premium cars from the Motability scheme. “So for me, from a business perspective, it was tone deaf and a bit pathetic.”
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