Through Ending a Harsh Conservative Social Experiment, This Budget Definitively Sets Out How Labour Will Fight the Struggle to Revitalize Britain

Just recently, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, delivered a Labour Party economic plan. People have been calling for Labour’s mission and principles to be more distinctly articulated. By way of the choices made – a shift to a fairer tax system, focusing on wealth to fund addressing child poverty, quality public services and the living expenses – we have clearly demonstrated what we believe in.

This is why Labour MPs applauded in the Commons, and it’s why we are up for the fights to come. And it’s why the protests from the right began right away.

The Central Political Divide in UK Government

The central division in British politics is once again on the economy. On the one hand Labour, who aim to reform it so it helps ordinary working people, and on the other, our opponents, who support the status quo and the failed doctrine of the past. We must now confront, and win, the argument.

The Tories had 14 years to resolve things and instead, by any measure, they got much worse. Their doctrinaire austerity and trickle-down economics – tax breaks for the wealthy, cutting off investment (causing us with poor productivity and wages), and neglecting to support young people post-Covid – didn’t work.

Record of Failure Under the Previous Government

Living standards dropped by the largest margin since records began, child poverty reached record levels, NHS waiting lists in England were the highest they’ve ever been, wages were stagnant, a housing crisis became entrenched, young people scarred by Covid were abandoned. The history of failure goes on.

One budget alone can’t fix everything, so Labour has a long-term plan for rebuilding and for rewiring the country. And we have to go out and keep making the argument for why our strategy will reap dividends.

Social Security and Child Poverty

Under the Tories, welfare spending rose substantially. As did child poverty, because they failed to tackle the underlying issues: low pay, high housing costs, deep inequalities in education, health and regions. The state is forced to paying more to manage the symptoms instead of the solution.

It’s why we are constructing more social housing than for a generation, raising wages and enhanced protections for workers, greatly increasing investment in infrastructure and new industries, getting waiting lists down and lowering the costs of childcare and energy as we pursue clean power.

Removing the Two-Child Limit

It’s also why we are completely justified to use this budget to lift the two-child benefit cap.

For eight long years, since it was introduced, poorer families with children have suffered from a unjust social experiment that was marketed as fair for working people when it was the opposite. 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 heartless and immoral.

Real Impact in Local Areas

From experience from my own constituency – 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 hungry and cold, living in cramped, damp homes, parents during the holidays depending 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 stretched but have to redirect time and resources to supporting children who are living with the consequences of severe deprivation.

Lasting Consequences of Child Poverty

Just a quarter of pupils from the most disadvantaged families achieve five good GCSEs, compared with almost 75% among wealthier families. This sets them up for the challenges they face throughout their lives: missed potential, economic struggles and poor health. Children who were raised in poverty are more likely to be unemployed or poor as adults.

Addressing child poverty isn’t just a ethical duty, it is a long-term investment. Poverty costs the economy significantly more than the three billion pound cost of lifting 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 extra children pushed into poverty. The effects of lifting it won’t happen overnight either, so taking early action in the parliament was vital.

The cap was a totem to 14 years of failed conservative ideology. Now it is gone.

Equitable Funding for Measures

We, as Labour, can also be explicit that these initiatives are being funded in a fair way – from a new gaming tax, closing tax loopholes and a new “mansion tax”.

Final Thoughts

Fairness and direction – that’s how we will succeed in the battle of ideas. This budget is a clear statement that we won the election as Labour, and will govern as Labour. As I repeatedly said during my campaign to become deputy leader, we must reclaim the political megaphone and set the agenda more strongly about what’s really wrong with the country and how we are repairing it. We’ve definitely done that this week.

So let’s keep hold of it and prevail in this fight about how we will rebuild Britain and address the deep inequalities impeding progress.