Lord Redwood has accused Ed Miliband of being “hugely damaging” to the government by refusing to give up part of his budget for defence.

Speaking to GB News, he said: “The benefits bill is the one that’s really out of control.

“There was an increase already under the Conservatives, and then it’s increased much more rapidly under Labour because we get the sick note for life culture.

“So lots of young people now are not just on benefits with a view to trying to get them into a job, which we all want to do. They’re put on benefits and told you don’t need to bother to go to look for work.

“You’ve got some kind of minor mental health condition, so we’ll give you a sick note for life. It’s undermining them, and it’s undermining the nation’s finances.

“And then you’ve got the enormous waste that this government is undertaking in so many areas: £4 billion for a lot of road schemes that people probably don’t want, in many cases, and we’ve had an awful lot of these schemes already.

“The massive waste in the net zero self-harm and folly that Mr Miliband won’t give up at all.

“He is hugely damaging to this government because he has loads of capital expenditure that could be transferred to defence, but he won’t give in, because he wants to wreck the country and deindustrialise us.”