George Osborne endures verbal assault on BBC Newsnight: 'Your treatment of country's poorest has been despicable'

George Osborne has defended the government’s programme of austerity after enduring a verbal assault during an appearance on the BBC’s Newsnight.

The former chancellor – who admitted his administration had made mistakes that contributed to the Brexit vote – insisted the UK had to “live within its means” after being told his “treatment of the poorest people in this country has been despicable”.

Mr Osborne, now editor of the London Evening Standard, sister title to The Independent, was invited on the programme after his successor Philip Hammond claimed the “era of austerity is finally coming to an end” in this week’s Budget.

Fellow guest on the show, writer Polly Toynbee, said the former Conservative MP who oversaw the government’s policy of austerity had “done such harm and damage to this country”, branding him “the most right-wing chancellor we have ever had”.

The columnist tore into Mr Osborne after Newsnight presenter Evan Davis suggested the former chancellor was “closer to Polly Toynbee’s politics than you are to two-thirds of Conservative Party members”.

Ms Toynbee described the comparison as “unthinkable”.

“This man has done such harm and damage to this country,” she added. “He has been the most right-wing chancellor we have ever had.”

The journalist said Mr Osborne had taken billions from Britain’s poorest through benefit cuts “and then abused them with that endless talk about people with their blinds down, trying to make people hate anyone on benefits, despite the fact that the great majority of them are in work, often working in two jobs”.

She told the ex-MP: “Your treatment of the poorest people in this country has been despicable.”

Mr Osborne replied: “I just disagree with all of that. We were left a desperate political and economic situation by the Labour government that [Ms Toynbee] supported and cleaned up the mess, but obviously not to [her] satisfaction.”

Asked by Mr Davis if he had any regrets about his time in office, the former chancellor admitted government errors had led to Brexit.

“We were wrong to play into the debate that everything that Brussels did was a challenge and a battle and was wrong,” he said.

The Conservative government had also set targets on cutting immigration “that we couldn’t deliver and that then led to a debate about how you might deliver those targets”, he conceded.

“We definitely contributed to that argument, didn’t make enough of the value of immigration.”

He went on to urge Theresa May’s government not to attempt to compete with Labour on government spending.

“The Conservatism I think that works is socially progressive and fiscally conservative – and we lost in the election I wasn’t involved in 2017 because we tried to out-Ukip Ukip,” he said.

“We aren’t going to win the next election by trying to out-Corbyn Corbyn.

“The Conservatives should stand their ground for what I think still millions of people are, they want a progressive, successful country, you’ve got to live within your means... trying to outspend our political opponents won’t help the Conservatives either.”