Yesterday, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, delivered a Labour Party budget. People have been calling for Labour’s mission and values to be more clearly articulated. By way of the choices made – a transition to a more equitable tax system, focusing on wealth to fund addressing child poverty, quality public services and the cost of living – we have unequivocally demonstrated what we believe in.
That’s why Labour MPs cheered in the Commons, and it’s why we are ready for the fights to come. And it’s why the cries from the conservative side began right away.
The central dividing line in British politics is yet again on the economy. On the one side Labour, who aim to change it so it benefits everyday working people, and on the other, our political opponents, who support the status quo and the unsuccessful doctrine of the past. We must now confront, and prevail in, the argument.
The Tories had 14 years to resolve things and in reality, by every standard, they got much worse. Their ideological austerity and trickle-down economics – tax cuts for the wealthy, cutting off investment (leaving us with poor productivity and wages), and failing to support young people post-Covid – didn’t work.
Living standards dropped by the biggest amount since records began, child poverty reached record levels, NHS waiting lists in England were the highest they’ve ever been, wages remained flat, a housing crisis took hold, young people scarred by Covid were left on the scrapheap. The record of failure continues.
A single budget alone can’t fix everything, so Labour has a comprehensive plan for rebuilding and for rewiring the country. And we have to go out and keep making the argument for why our approach will reap dividends.
During the Tories, welfare spending significantly increased. As did child poverty, because they didn’t address the underlying issues: low pay, high housing costs, significant inequalities in education, health and regions. The state is forced to paying more to deal with the symptoms instead of the cure.
It’s why we are constructing more affordable homes than for a generation, raising wages and new rights for workers, massively boosting investment in infrastructure and new industries, reducing waiting lists down and lowering the costs of childcare and energy as we drive for clean power.
It’s also why we are absolutely right to use this budget to remove the two-child benefit cap.
For almost a decade, since it was introduced, 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 heartless and unethical.
From experience from my own constituency – where over 5,000 children will be raised 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 this Christmas 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 redirect 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 disadvantages they face during their lives: unrealized potential, economic struggles and ill health. Children who grew up in poverty are more likely to be jobless or poor as adults.
Confronting child poverty isn’t just a ethical duty, it is a future-oriented strategy. Poverty costs the economy far, far more than the three billion pound cost of removing the two-child cap, or expanding free school meals.
That’s why we acted promptly in the budget, despite the very difficult economic context. Every day with this cap in place sees over a hundred additional children pushed into poverty. The effects of lifting it won’t happen overnight either, so acting early in the parliament was crucial.
The cap was a symbol to 14 years of failed rightwing ideology. Now it is gone.
We, as Labour, can also be explicit that these initiatives are being paid for in a just way – from a new gaming tax, eliminating tax loopholes and a new “mansion tax”.
Equity and purpose – that’s how we will win the battle of ideas. This budget is a definitive statement that we won the election as Labour, and will lead as Labour. As I repeatedly said during my campaign to become deputy leader, we must seize back the political megaphone and set the agenda more forcefully about what’s really wrong with the country and how we are repairing it. We’ve definitely done that this week.
So let’s maintain it and win this struggle about how we will rebuild Britain and address the deep inequalities holding us back.
A seasoned software engineer with a passion for open-source projects and tech education.
