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Rachel Reeves has just announced a series of tax hikes intended to boost the public purse by £40 billion - but the "tough" financial decisions she's made haven't been popular with everyone. Express Online looks at the top stars who have spoken out following the Labour Chancellor's announcement.
Jeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Clarkson is one of those to be totally unimpressed by the plans that have been unveiled - and he ominously urged fellow farmers to "hang in there for a painful five year wait", by which time he hopes Labour will have been ousted.
He fumed over the financial burdens that now face families hoping to pass their farms on to their children when they die.
Huge Inheritance Tax (IHT) burdens lie ahead from April 2026 onwards, with agricultural assets worth over £1 million being subject to IHT "with a 50 per cent relief and at an effective rate of 20 per cent".
Jeremy groaned that he "literally daren't comment" on the "hopeless" Labour government. Elsewhere, he also raised his concerns about fuel price hikes before Reeves had even made her official speech.
None too subtly blasting the Chancellor's plans, which have since been reversed, he complained: “If you live in Kentish Town, then you are well served by many transport options. If you don’t live in Kentish Town, you aren’t. You need a car - [and] you need to be able to afford to drive it.”
Fortunately, Reeves made a U-turn on her original plans to increase fuel taxes, meaning that the temporary 5p cut brought in by the Conservative Party will be held for another year.
However, sacrificing an extra £3 billion of revenue for the public purse by freezing fuel prices has meant, inevitably, that Labour needed to make painful decisions in other areas.
Kirstie Allsopp
Property expert and Location, Location, Location host Kirstie Allsopp hit out at Labour's Budget plans.
Writing on her X account, she fumed: "Rachel Reeves has f***ed all farmers. She has destroyed their ability to pass farms on to their children, and broken the future of all our great estates.
"It is an appalling decision which shows the government has ZERO understanding of what matters to rural voters."
Piers Morgan
Piers Morgan had just two words for the numerous tax hikes planned, saying: "Oh dear."
He made his feelings clear on Twitter (X) today, (October 30) after spotting political editor Kate McCann's summary of the tense House of Commons budget meeting on social media.
She'd warned: "Biggest tax raising Budget in history - Reeves announces her plans will hike taxes by £40billion. For context Gordon Brown’s first Budget raised tax by £14bn and George Osborne’s by £13bn.
"Norman Lamont’s Budget would have been £33bn in today’s terms according to experts."
Meanwhile, Carol Vorderman argued that the BBC's coverage and commentary on the budget was "biased", raging at "scripting by BBC Board Director (former Tory No 10 head of Comms) Robbie Gibb".
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