Ed Balls: 'Reaction to my stammer in the Commons was really upsetting' Labour MP said deficit was coming down then said it was going up in 2012 Ed Balls blamed his stammer and heckles from Tories for his confusion But he is renowned for barracking ministers from the Labour frontbench Ed Balls has revealed how House of Commons heckling at his stammer is "really upsetting." Labour's shadow chancellor said he was hurt by claims he was not up to the job after making mistakes during a speech in the Commons last year. And he urged employers to show more understanding for people who struggle with a stammer. Explanation: Shadow chancellor Ed Balls said it was his stammer which meant he appeared to get in a muddle during his response to the Autumn Statement last year Mr Balls faced criticism last year for his performance during his response to George Osborne's Autumn Statement, and his later claim that his stammer was to blame. He had spent months arguing the deficit was rising so he appeared thrown off balance when Mr Osborne was able to brandish figures showing the opposite. Launching into his demolition of mini-budget, Mr Balls said: "The economy this year is contracting. The Chancellor has confirmed that Government borrowing is revised up this year, next year and every year. The national deficit is not rising... As he was barracked by MPs on the government side - including the frontbench - he was forced to correct himself, insisting: "Er... is rising, not falling." He later blamed the noise in the Commons and his stammer for his faltering performance. Today Mr Balls revealed how he was left upset by the reaction. "I've had loads of bad experiences," he told ITV's Daybreak. I found out afterwards that people thought it was about a lack of confidence. I just had something that happens to me quite often, I had a block where you can't get your words out and you hesitate and I got through it and kept going, but it was bumpy for that minute or two. But I think, because it was live on TV, some people saw that and what was really upsetting to me was for people to say I wasn't confident or I wasn't doing my job. It was just I've got a bit of a stammer and sometimes it comes out. Heckle: Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and David Cameron react during Mr Balls speech in December 2012 He said people who live with a stammer should not try to hide it. I only really realised I had it in a different way once I started being a Cabinet minister and doing all these performances. And like very many people in the country with a stammer, I thought the right thing to do was cover it up and try to keep it under the surface, tell nobody about it - that makes it worse. "All the evidence is that people understand if you talk about it, takes the pressure off you and sometimes, as it has with me, when it goes wrong, people think "oh well, that's what's happened." And I think it's very important just to be yourself and just deal with those moments when it happens. And the important thing about this stammering network, it's saying to employers: encourage people in your company to talk about it.