Britain’s Reform leader Nigel Farage said he was “particularly delighted” that changes to tariffs will save him “more than a pound a week” on beer.

Mr Farage also claimed Chancellor Rachel Reeves had positioned herself as the “manager of the nation’s funds” following Wednesday’s Budget, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey warned voters might lack “a sense of hope, urgency and the promise of fair justice.” agreement”.

Mr Farage told the House of Commons: “Invest, invest, invest, that’s what we heard at the start of this Budget speech, and I thought, ‘Yes, that’s what we we absolutely need.”

I think the decision to put money into potholes was smart, the fuel tax freeze is very, very welcome, especially for those who live in rural areas of our country.

“Not just the big multinationals that come to smart conferences, but also, you know, hundreds of thousands of people who are investing their own venture capital in start-ups, in new companies, but no.

“This investment, invest, invest is going to be done by the Chancellor on our behalf, not just a senior economist at the Bank of England, but she is now going to be the country’s fund manager, investing money and trying to choose the winners.

The MP for Clacton in Essex added: “I think picking winners is wrong.

“I think we leave it to the free market, and we let people make money or we let them lose money and frankly, you know, if they lose their money, well, that’s it. that’s how things work.”

Asked by Labor MP Sarah Owen (Luton North) whether he would “prefer to have investment from the Russian government” rather than Westminster, Mr Farage suggested “one or two MPs should just grow up”.

He earlier told MPs: “I think the decision to put money into potholes was smart, the freeze on fuel duty is very, very welcome, particularly for those who live in rural areas of our country, but for me the most important thing is of course the 1p a year. A pint of draft beer, which I estimate would save me over £1 a week, so I’m particularly pleased.

While alcohol duty rates on non-draught products will increase in line with RPI inflation, duty on alcohol will be reduced by 1.7%, knocking a penny off a pint in the pub.

Sir Ed said: “People expected this Budget to be a clean break from the failures of recent years, a sense of hope, urgency and the promise of a fair deal.

Increasing employers’ national insurance is a tax on jobs and people

“But I fear the budget won’t deliver all that.

“The Tories have left behind a huge mess in our NHS, but I fear it won’t be fixed unless the government also fixes social care.

“The cost of living crisis will not be solved by hitting struggling families, retirees, family farms and small businesses, and our economy will not experience strong new growth unless we repair our broken relationships with Europe.”

Sir Ed, himself a carer for his disabled son John, accused Labor of “ignoring the elephant in the NHS waiting room – the social care crisis” and lacking a “long-term solution to social protection”.

On wages and taxes, he said: “I welcome, in relation to the cost of living, the increase in the national minimum wage, although I urge the Chancellor to also extend this higher wage to apprentices, but it is very worrying. see the Chancellor today repeating a number of Conservative mistakes.

“Increasing employers’ national insurance is a tax on jobs and people.”

Employers’ social security contributions will increase by 1.2 percentage points to 15%, the Chancellor said.

She also revealed a 6.7% increase in the minimum wage for over-21s, from £11.44 to £12.21.