By Halting a Cruel Conservative Social Experiment, This Budget Clearly Sets Out How the Labour Party Will Wage the Struggle to Revitalize Britain

Just recently, the finance minister, Rachel Reeves, delivered a Labour budget. The public have been asking for Labour’s purpose and principles to be more distinctly articulated. Through the choices made – a transition to a more equitable tax system, focusing on wealth to pay for addressing child poverty, good public services and the cost of living – we have unequivocally demonstrated what we believe in.

This is why Labour MPs cheered in the Commons, and it’s why we are ready for the battles to come. And it’s why the protests from the right began immediately.

The Central Political Divide in British Government

The primary division in British politics is yet again on the economy. On the one side Labour, who aim to reform it so it helps everyday working people, and on the opposite side, our opponents, who support the status quo and the failed doctrine of the past. We must now take on, and prevail in, the debate.

The Tories had 14 years to resolve things and in reality, by every standard, they got far more dire. 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.

Legacy of Failure Under the Previous Administration

Living standards fell by the biggest amount since records began, child poverty reached record levels, NHS waiting lists in England were the highest on record, wages were stagnant, a housing crisis became entrenched, young people affected by Covid were abandoned. The history of failure goes on.

One budget alone can’t put all this right, so Labour has a comprehensive plan for rebuilding and for restructuring the country. And we have to go out and continue making the case for why our approach will yield benefits.

Welfare Spending and Youth Deprivation

Under the Tories, welfare spending rose substantially. As did child poverty, because they didn’t address 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 effects instead of the cure.

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

Removing the Two-Child Limit

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

For almost a decade, since it was enacted, low-income families with children have endured from a unjust 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 has only served to push 300,000 more children into poverty – which, in the end, costs us more, as well as being heartless and unethical.

Real Impact in Local Areas

I know from my own constituency – where over 5,000 children will be lifted out of poverty as a result of ending the cap – the real impact it’s had. Children wearing £1 wellies as school shoes, children going to bed without food and cold, living in overcrowded, mouldy homes, parents this Christmas relying on food banks for a simple 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.

Long-Term Consequences of Child Poverty

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: missed potential, financial struggles and poor health. Children who grew up in poverty are more likely to be unemployed or poor as adults.

Addressing child poverty isn’t just a moral imperative, it is a future-oriented strategy. Poverty costs the economy significantly more than the three billion pound cost of removing the two-child cap, or expanding free school meals.

That’s why we acted urgently 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 taking early action in the parliament was vital.

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

Equitable Financing for Measures

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

Conclusion

Fairness and purpose – 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 seize back the political platform and set the agenda more strongly about what’s truly flawed with the country and how we are fixing it. We’ve definitely done that this week.

So let’s keep hold of it and win this fight about how we will renew Britain and tackle the deep inequalities impeding progress.