Rachel Reeves “does us no favours” by claiming she faces more criticism because she is a woman, Kemi Badenoch declared.

The Conservative leader defended her combative approach to the Chancellor following the Budget, insisting “they were very personal about us”.

But Mrs Badenoch told LBC she was “quite surprised at how much she blamed her being a woman on the criticism that she’s been getting.”

She told LBC: “They were very personal about us.

“She was very personal about the Conservatives in her budget speech, but she also uses her person as a means of defence.

“I was quite surprised at how much she blamed her being a woman on the criticism that she’s been getting.

“The weekend papers were full of ‘oh it’s all misogyny. It’s mansplaining’, and I had to tell her, woman to woman, it’s nothing to do with mansplaining. You’re just not doing a good job.”

She added: “I think I have a duty to make sure that people see that women, ethnic minorities, others, get their jobs on merit, and Rachel Reeves does us no favours.”

The Chancellor’s tax raid includes a £12.7billion hike from extending the tax threshold freeze for another three years, a move described as a “hammer blow” for pensioners.

It means around a quarter of the working population will be paying higher or top rate tax by the end of the decade.

Up to half a million more OAPs will be forced into the tax net because of the measure.

Ms Reeves will use the money to pay for an extra £9billion on welfare – including the £3billion cost of abolishing the two-child benefit cap.

She also announced higher taxes on pension sacrifice schemes, betting, electric cars and large homes to plug her financial black hole.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch blasted Ms Reeves, declaring: “This is a Budget for Benefits Street paid for by working people.”

She added: “She could have chosen today to bring down welfare spending and get more people into work.

“Instead she has chosen to put up tax after tax after tax, taxes on workers, taxes on savers, taxes on pensioners, taxes on investors, taxes on homes, holidays, cars, I think even milkshakes. Taxes on anyone doing the right thing.”

And in an eviscerating attack on the Chancellor herself, Mrs Badenoch declared: People out there aren’t complaining because she’s female, they’re complaining because she is utterly incompetent.

“Real equality means being held to the same standard as everyone else.

“It means being judged on results.

“Take her bright idea, the Office for Value for money.

“It has been closed down because it didn’t save a penny, in fact it cost the taxpayer £1.6 million.

“You couldn’t make this stuff up.

“Madam Deputy Speaker, I have identified a way to save taxpayers huge amounts of money by sacking just one person.

“The woman sitting opposite.

“The ex-Chief Economist of the Bank of England was not “mansplaining”, he wasn’t “mansplaining” when he said the uncertainty around today’s Budget is “the single biggest reason growth has flatlined.

“What did the Chancellor think would happen when she went on Breakfast telly to do an emergency public service announcement?

“I interrupt your cheerios to bring you this frightening message about income tax.

“And then, unbelievably, she changed her mind three days later.

“No wonder people are in despair.

“She says, she wants people to respect her.

“Respect is earned.”

The two-child benefit cap is set to be axed in a bid to placate mutinous Labour MPs, leaving around 18,000 large families in line to pocket an extra £14,000.

The OBR said 560,000 families will receive extra cash, costing around £3billion a year.

Alarmingly, the Government said annual spending on welfare per year is forecast to rise from £333billion in 2025-26 to £389.4billion in 2029-30.

That is higher than the previous forecasts of £326.1billion in 2025-26 and £373.4billion in 2029-30, reflecting the bumper sums being added by Ms Reeves.

Spending on health and disability benefits per year is now forecast to rise from £83.1billion in 2025-26 to £103.6billion in 2029-30.

That is up from the previous forecasts of £81.2billion in 2025-26 and £97.7billion in 2029-30.

It also revealed the decision to freeze income tax thresholds for three years – longer than the two years expected – will drag 780,000 more people into paying the basic rate and 920,000 into the higher rate band.

That is compared to the original plan for the freeze to end in 2028.

Asked if she’d faced patronising explanations from male colleagues, Mrs Badenoch said: “There are people who maybe can be a bit annoying, when they’re explaining things, but they’re both men and women.

“I’ve never bought into this. ‘oh it’s a mansplaining thing’, and I don’t use my gender as a shield for criticism. Some people may think I’m doing a good job.

“Some people may think I’m doing a bad job. I will disagree with them quite a lot of times. Sometimes they might be right, if I’ve made a mistake, but what I don’t do is say, ‘oh it’s because I’m a woman that they’re criticising me, or it’s because I’m black’, or just using identity as a shield, I think is very dangerous.

“And it also means that a lot of people think that you got the job because of those things.”