Budget 2016: Jeremy Corbyn attacks Osborne's 'failure'
- Published
Jeremy Corbyn: Osborne's Budget is culmination of "six years of his failures"
Jeremy Corbyn said the Budget had "unfairness at its very core" as he responded to George Osborne.
The Labour leader said the chancellor's statement was "a Budget of failure" on the deficit, investment and inequality.
He attacked cuts to disability benefits and criticised "mate's rates" corporate tax deals - but welcomed a new levy on sugary drinks.
Mr Osborne also announced extra spending cuts of £3.5bn and an increase in the higher tax threshold.
He said his Budget - which also includes forcing all state schools to become academies - "puts the next generation first".
But Mr Corbyn said only a Labour government could "harness the enthusiasm" of young people.
He said Mr Osborne's Budget was "the culmination of six years of his failures" accusing him of presiding over low productivity, investment and ambition, and failing to show a "real commitment" to ending inequality.
'Locked out'
Despite the "rhetoric" of the Northern Powerhouse, Mr Corbyn said, there was "systematic under-investment in the North" and the government had "stood by as the steel industry bled".
He also attacked the government's record on home ownership, saying a generation had been "locked out" by its policies.
Analysis by the BBC's political correspondent Iain Watson
With some pollsters suggesting his own personal ratings are lower than any Labour leader since Michael Foot three decades ago, it was perhaps brave of Jeremy Corbyn to make failure the theme of his budget response.
Certainly it drew derision from the Conservative benches and the deputy speaker had to intervene several times to calm the atmosphere.
The Labour leader accused Chancellor George Osborne of "six years of failure" - failing to meet his own targets to balance the books and to rebalance the economy.
"The gulf between what the Conservative government expects from the wealthiest and what it demands from ordinary British taxpayers could not be greater," he said.
"The 'mate's rates' deals for big corporations on tax deals is something they will be forever remembered for.
"This is a chancellor who has produced a Budget for hedge fund managers more than for small businesses."
In his Commons address Mr Osborne, who promised a £10.4bn surplus by 2019-20, aimed a joke at Mr Corbyn, the Islington North MP, saying the proposed Crossrail 2 rail link was "good for people in North London who are heading south".
He also revised down growth forecasts, warned of the risks of an EU exit, and announced a £115 million package to help rough sleepers.
Responding to the homelessness announcement, John Healey, Labour's housing spokesman, said he welcomed the fact that Mr Osborne had "finally woken up to the fact there's a problem".
But he said five times as much had been cut from housing support in November's Spending Review.