Jeremy Clarkson reacts to GB News interview after Labour MP bizarrely says 'employers aren't working people'

Jeremy Clarkson has shared his thoughts on the criticism facing Treasury minister Emma Reynolds after she provoked a furious backlash by telling GB News that employers are "not working people".

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury made the remarks while being pressed by presenter Camilla Tominey about whether recent Budget measures had broken the party's manifesto commitment not to increase taxes on working people.

Ms Reynolds told The People's Channel: "I don't think employers are working people; they are companies."

Her comments drew immediate condemnation from both Conservative and Reform UK politicians, who accused the government of being out of touch with the realities faced by millions of small business owners across the country.

Now, Clarkson's Farm star Mr Clarkson has followed suit, echoing the reception Ms Reynolds has faced in his latest newspaper column.

Unable to resist a dig at prime minister Andy Burnham along the way, Mr Clarkson penned: "When Cllr Burnham told the Commons recently that social security is more important than national security, I thought we’d reached peak government idiocy.

"But no. In a television interview this week, a Treasury minister called Emma Reynolds said that employers aren’t working people."

He continued: "Yup. If you’ve got a building company or a nail salon and you have a handful of employees, you are not a working person.

"You may get in before the workforce and leave after they’ve all gone home. And you may spend your evenings worrying about how you’ll pay their National Insurance, and doing VAT returns and preparing accounts.

"But according to Ms Reynolds, that’s not work," he added, before rather damningly signing off his The Sun column: "Give me strength."

The heated exchange between Camilla and Ms Reynolds centred on whether Chancellor John Healey's Budget, delivered the previous Wednesday, had breached Labour's election promises by adding two percentage points to income tax on property and savings income.

Camilla put it to the minister directly: "Can I put it to you that this Budget has, in fact, breached the Labour manifesto? Because you have raised income tax on rents and interest, and at the end of the day, landlords and savers are working people, aren't they?"

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When Ms Reynolds insisted the manifesto remained intact, Camilla pressed further: "Employers can also be employees, so I'm saying that if you're going to put up National Insurance on employers, and you're also going to put up income tax on people who rent out their properties or indeed who have savings, you are increasing income tax on working people."

Ms Reynolds maintained that the government had honoured its manifesto commitments, drawing a clear line between headline income tax rates and the new levy on rental and savings income.

She told GB News: "In the manifesto, we were clear that we would not increase the headline rate of income tax, which we haven't done, and we haven't increased VAT, and we haven't increased national insurance for employees."

The minister characterised the additional charge on landlords and savers as distinct from standard income tax, describing it as "two per cent on the income tax bands that are in for property and for savings."

Defending the wider Budget package, Ms Reynolds said: "We made a very conscious decision in this Budget for the tax increases to be targeted and fair.

"We increased the corporation tax on banks in order to pay for the breathing space measures for families, particularly the £100 energy support package for families in council tax bands A to D, taking VAT off electricity for a further three months, and also extending the fuel duty cut."

Conservative politicians lined up to attack the minister's remarks. Shadow business minister Bradley Thomas wrote on X: "Labour's patronising, out-of-touch, politics of envy on display here from Minister Emma Reynolds. What about the thousands of small businesses who employ people? The electrician who works but takes on apprentices? The florist who runs her shop and has a young person work a few hours on weekends?

"The list is endless and so is Labour's vindictiveness and denial of reality."

Shadow work and pensions minister Helen Whately echoed: "This attitude is why Labour is killing our economy. They don't understand businesses are built by hard graft. By working people."

Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge wrote: "Employers aren't working people?? Employing people is one of the hardest jobs there is. And Labour are making it harder. Building the team to make a business grow is rewarding but also a massive challenge - be great if someone in Labour understood this."

Reform UK's Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick was equally scathing, writing on X: "Labour don't think employers are working people. Tell that to the millions of small business owners who employ people. Labour haven't a clue about business."

Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake described Ms Reynolds's remarks as "beyond belief."