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Camilla Tominey lambasts Labour Minister after PULLING OUT of GB News appearance 'last minute'
Jan 11, 2026
"Camilla Tominey has ripped into a top Labour Minister after she refused to appear on GB News "at the last minute". Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was originally lined up to join Camilla on her GB News show this morning but Labour MP Alex Ballinger stood in for his senior after she dropped out.Speaking to Mr Ballinger in the studio, Camilla said: "I'm grateful for your presence in the studio, because the Transport Secretary wouldn't come on the show, Heidi Alexander, even though she had committed to it on Friday."She pulled out at the last minute. Goodness knows why! "You're not in the Cabinet, so I'd go easier on you than I would do if you're a Minister."WATCH THE FULL CLIP ABOVE
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0:00
Welcome back. Joining me now in the studio is Alex Ballinger, the Labour MP for Hales-Owen
0:04
which you've managed to escape. It's very snowy up there right now. We will have weather updates later on the storm and it's continued chaos
0:11
But let's talk about pubs, because we've now got yet another U-turn by this Labour government
0:18
They've changed their mind, realised that these business rates are hitting pubs where it hurts
0:22
In fact, the whole of the hospitality industry. What do your constituents make of this
0:26
because you could argue that they carried out this review in Christmas and they found out that actually it was far more punitive than they planned
0:33
Why didn't they do the research before they brought out the budget? I think it's worth saying that I've got some excellent pubs
0:40
in Hell's Owen at the moment. Are you welcome in them, Alex? I am welcome in those pubs
0:44
Goodness me, you're lesser spotted as a Labour MP that's allowed into a pub these days
0:48
I love spending time in pubs. We have Canberra's Best Cider Pub in the West Midlands
0:54
in Roberto's, on my high street. Or you have been railing against Rachel Reeves over this, presumably
0:59
So I think it's worth saying a bit of background on the business rates changes that we're talking about
1:04
because it all goes back to the pandemic. So, of course, in the same way people were furloughed during the pandemic
1:09
some businesses got tax reliefs at that period, including lots of hospitality industries
1:14
Now, they were set up by the Tories in 2023 due to expire this year
1:20
And that would have led to very large increases to many pubs across the country
1:24
In the budget the Chancellor made lots of changes to ameliorate that So we rebalanced the business rate system So smaller businesses high streets hospitality pubs would pay a bit less Larger businesses online giants Amazon these type of things they would pay a bit more And there was also a lot of money released
1:41
£4.3 billion for transitional reliefs. So if we're going back to a tax rate..
1:45
OK, so what went wrong? What went wrong? ...before the pandemic... It wasn't planned out well enough because, in fact
1:49
when they said that pubs would have modest rises, they've had massive rises
1:54
And, in fact, the whole of the hospitality industry in general, particularly hotels, have been clobbered
1:58
increases of up to 115%. So I get what you're saying about the motivations
2:03
This is like another example of the government seemingly making up as it goes along
2:08
They come out with a policy that makes no sense. The people affected by the policy, be it people who are claiming winter fuel
2:14
farmers, publicans, turn round and say, this is a disastrous policy that's gone wrong
2:21
and then handbrake turn, the Labour government U-turns on it. That's a sign of weakness
2:26
If it was one U-turn, it would be one thing. It's U-turn after U-turn after U-turn
2:31
It suggests the government doesn't know what it's doing, Alex. I think pubs are going to welcome this change
2:38
So absolutely you're right that the increases were a bit larger than some people were hoping to
2:44
That, of course, would always be going to happen if we're removing a relief and going back to the system
2:47
before the pandemic. I'm really pleased the Chancellor announced another consultation over Christmas
2:53
She's looking at what more help we can do for pubs. I get what you're saying. I understand the positive spin and I grateful for your presence in the studio because the transport secretary wouldn come on the show Heidi Alexander even though she had committed to it on Friday she pulled out at the last minute Goodness knows why You not in the cabinet So I go easier on you than I would do if you were a minister But can we just be real here This is the list of U
3:18
Farmers tax, income tax hike at 2025 budget, two-charbed benefit cap, benefit reforms
3:25
winter fuel payment, gang rape inquiry, WASPy women, national insurance hike, trans women are
3:30
women. Oh, no, actually, they're not. They're men. Royal mayor nationalisation. We're now talking
3:34
about an apparent U-turn on jury trials. It speaks to a government that is making it up as it goes along
3:43
You have to appreciate that. I bet voters in Hales-Owen do say that to you on the doorstep
3:48
I wouldn't accept all of those things are U-turns. And we are in a world that is a bit more volatile than it used to be
3:54
And I think everyone now accepts that the state of the public finances
3:58
and the public services that the Conservatives left us was really bad. Hang on
4:01
In that context, I think it's really important that we're listening and we're listening to the public, we're listening to stakeholders
4:10
Hang on a minute. Can we just, again, can we just get real? As far as our audience is concerned
4:16
Keir Starmer has become one of the least popular prime ministers in history
4:20
Both budgets have been widely derided as a disaster. We've got polling in the sun, which I'll come on to
4:26
that people are still feeling the cost of living squeeze, even if they're meant to be well off
4:30
You can't possibly be sitting here arguing at this stage with an approval rating of minus 59
4:36
that the Prime Minister's been doing a good job. You can't be saying that
4:41
Would you prefer a government that pushed on regardless despite the public view Or would you like a government that is listening to stakeholders including pubs It like the definition of Churchill lurching from one disaster to another That the government we have That not what I saying I think it very important that we
4:57
listening to people, we're listening to stakeholders and we're making adjustments to improve the
5:01
situation. And as you said, pubs are going to be very happy with the change. I think farmers
5:05
and the NFU was very happy with the change. So these are important things that we're doing
5:10
happy with the change, but it shouldn't have happened in the first place. Also now, do we move
5:14
on to bailing out other parts of the hospitality industry? Hotels facing 115% increases. You're
5:21
helping pubs. What about restaurants? What about hotels? Well, I haven't seen the data on that
5:26
But as I say, the Treasury is listening to me. Well, should she step in now and say, I made a mistake and correct that one too for other parts of the hospitality industry
5:33
I think we have to go back and look like why we're here in the first place. We have a level
5:37
of debt that's close to 100% of GDP that we inherited from the last government. Which any decision in any budget would be disastrous
5:43
Literally contributing to yourself because you've got no plan to cut government spending
5:49
over the next five years. In fact, it's going up. It's going down, Camilla
5:53
We inherited this, but actually we're doing that. It's sort of trying to mislead the public
5:59
this constant blaming of the Tories for mistakes that have happened since the last budget
6:04
The last budget was only in autumn. What's it got to do with the Tories? Rachel Reeves cocking up this business rates hike
6:11
It's got nothing to do with the Tories. I think we're in a very difficult public finance situation and any changes that are made around that
6:16
to try and plug the gap that we were left in, we're going to be unpopular. And it's important that we're listening
6:21
and we've made a positive change here on this. All right, well, this isn't positive, is it? Look at these families
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