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The boss of Ryanair has warned Rachel Reeves has "no idea" how to grow the economy. Michael O'Leary, the chief of Ryanair , has warned about the rise to air fares in the Autumn Budget from the Labour Party government. O’Leary said the Chancellor “hasn’t a rashers” on how to deliver growth. Air Passenger Duty (APD) – a tax on passengers flying from UK airports – will increase by up to £2 for short-haul economy flights from April next year. "Until she starts cutting these insane taxes and stop trying to tax wealth, the UK economy is doomed to continue to fail", he said. READ MORE SUV drivers face new 'premium' to park their cars in part of UK "But, in a bizarre way, that's probably good for Ryanair's business because as people get more price sensitive, more and more of them will fly Ryanair," he concluded. Mr O’Leary said that London airports are better shielded against the force of APD hikes, as they are “full and can pay the taxes”, but that airports outside the capital are in a trickier position. He said with regards to “non-London airports” that there is “enormous growth available to this Labour government in airports like Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham , Glasgow, Edinburgh”. Mr O'Leary told investors: "While Q3 forward bookings are slightly ahead of (PY) prior year, particularly across the Oct. mid-term and Christmas peaks, we would caution that we face more challenging PY fare comps in H2 (second half) making fare growth more challenging". Speaking today, Ms Reeves suggested she was referring to the way she changed the fiscal rules last year, which allowed much more investment. At a Downing Street press conference, Ms Reeves replied: "I think it is important that people are honest. As I said, everyone can see that this year has thrown many more challenges. "It would be possible to cut capital spending, to change the fiscal rules, to make the numbers superficially add up all. But I’m not convinced that would the right thing for our country. "I have to respond to the world as it is rather than the world I might want [it] to be. "I believe, in the end, the public will respond better to doing the right thing than just doing the expedient thing."
