George Osborne ridiculed after suggesting he was 'proud' of austerity

George Osborne ridiculed after suggesting he was 'proud' of austerity The former Tory Chancellor oversaw sweeping austerity and gutted public services, but insisted people would be grateful for his decisions compared to what came after George Osborne has been criticised after claiming he was proud of a Government that delivered six years of austerity. The former Tory Chancellor oversaw sweeping austerity and gutted public services, but insisted people would be grateful for that now compared to what came after. Speaking to The Independent, Mr Osborne dismissed the idea he had anything to apologise for. He said: “I’m proud of being a partner to David Cameron, forming a coalition government and offering Britain stable government for six years. "People now look back on that six years of government now and say, ‘Wow!’… compared to everything that has happened since.” Responding, Labour MP Joe Morris hit out at the Tories taking a wrecking ball to the economy. He said: "Across the North East, people remember the decimation of public services under austerity. It was that government set the stage for the failures of the Brexit years, making our economy weaker and our people poorer. "When I'm on the doorstep, people in my constituency remember exactly who the Tories are and what they did to the country." A Labour spokesperson said: “Tory austerity hammered public services, hollowed out local government and sent NHS waiting lists soaring. "The Conservatives left millions of families right across Britain paying a very heavy price. Labour is bringing back hope to give people vital breathing space on the cost of living and we're driving good growth in every postcode - including in all those areas the Tories left behind." Last year Mr Osborne, who brought in the cruel two-child benefit cap, defended the decision and claimed it was about reducing incentives in the welfare system. Experts say the cap played a key role in driving nearly 4.5 million children into poverty. The former PM Keir Starmer finally scrapped the cap, and said it was one of his proudest achievements in office. The British Museum chair, who is in charge of the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition in London, also offered his sympathy to Lord Peter Mandelson.The disgraced peer was fined for urinating outside Mr Osborne’s London home after having dinner there last year. He said: “I actually felt very sorry for Peter… He’d left. I won’t go into the whole story, but he didn’t want to come back and knock on the door.”