Yesterday, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, delivered a Labour Party budget. The public have been calling for Labour’s purpose and principles to be more distinctly expressed. By way of the choices made – a shift to a more equitable tax system, targeting wealth to fund addressing child poverty, good public services and the living expenses – we have clearly set out what we stand for.
That’s why Labour MPs applauded in the Commons, and it’s why we are up for the fights to come. And it’s why the cries from the conservative side began immediately.
The primary division in British politics is yet again on the economy. On the one hand Labour, who want to reform it so it helps ordinary working people, and on the opposite side, our opponents, who support the current system and the unsuccessful ideology of the past. We must now take on, and prevail in, the argument.
The Tories were given 14 years to fix things and instead, by every standard, they got much worse. Their ideological austerity and trickle-down economics – tax breaks for the wealthy, cutting off investment (leaving us with low productivity and wages), and neglecting to support young people after the pandemic – didn’t work.
Living standards fell by the largest margin since records began, child poverty hit record levels, NHS waiting lists in England were the highest on record, wages remained flat, a housing crisis became entrenched, young people scarred by Covid were abandoned. The record of failure goes on.
A single budget alone can’t fix everything, so Labour has a comprehensive plan for renewal and for rewiring the country. And we have to go out and keep making the case for why our strategy will yield benefits.
During the Tories, welfare spending rose substantially. As did child poverty, because they didn’t address the root causes: low pay, high housing costs, significant inequalities in education, health and regions. The state is forced to paying more to manage the effects instead of the cure.
It’s why we are building more social housing than for a generation, raising wages and enhanced protections for workers, massively boosting investment in infrastructure and new industries, reducing waiting lists down and bringing down the costs of childcare and energy as we drive for clean power.
This is also the reason we are completely justified to use this budget to remove the two-child benefit cap.
For almost a decade, since it was enacted, poorer families with children have suffered from a cruel social experiment that was branded as fair for working people when it was anything but. Most of the families impacted by it have a parent in work.
It’s done nothing but push 300,000 more children into poverty – which, in the end, costs us more, as well as being callous and unethical.
I know from my own district – where over 5,000 children will be lifted out of poverty as a result of abolishing the cap – the real impact it’s had. Children wearing low-cost wellies as school shoes, children going to bed without food and cold, living in cramped, mouldy homes, parents during the holidays relying on food banks for a modest meal or small gift for their kids.
I also see the impact on schools, teachers, social workers, doctors and charities who are already overburdened but have to divert time and resources to supporting children who are living with the results of severe deprivation.
Just one in four pupils from the poorest families achieve five good GCSEs, compared with almost 75% among wealthier families. This predisposes them for the challenges they face during their lives: unrealized potential, financial struggles and poor health. Children who were raised in poverty are more likely to be unemployed or poor as adults.
Confronting child poverty isn’t just a moral imperative, it is a long-term investment. Poverty costs the economy far, far more than the three billion pound cost of removing the two-child cap, or extending free school meals.
That’s why we acted promptly in the budget, despite the challenging economic context. Every day with this cap in place sees over a hundred additional children pushed into poverty. The effects of lifting it will not occur overnight either, so acting early in the parliament was crucial.
The cap was a totem to 14 years of failed rightwing ideology. Now it is abolished.
We, as Labour, can also be clear that these measures are being funded in a fair way – from a new gaming tax, closing tax loopholes and a new “mansion tax”.
Equity and direction – that’s how we will win the battle of ideas. This budget is a clear statement that we gained the election as Labour, and will lead as Labour. As I consistently said during my campaign to become deputy leader, we must seize back the political megaphone and define the narrative more forcefully about what’s really wrong with the country and how we are repairing it. We’ve certainly done that this week.
So let’s keep hold of it and prevail in this fight about how we will renew Britain and address the deep inequalities impeding progress.
A seasoned gaming enthusiast with over a decade of experience in lottery analysis and casino reviews.
