Through Ending a Harsh Tory Welfare Policy, This Budget Clearly Outlines How the Labour Party Will Wage the Struggle to Revitalize Britain

Just recently, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, presented a Labour budget. The public have been calling for Labour’s purpose and principles to be more clearly expressed. By way of the decisions made – a transition to a more equitable tax system, focusing on wealth to pay for addressing child poverty, quality public services and the cost of living – we have unequivocally 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 cries from the conservative side began right away.

The Central Dividing Line in British Politics

The primary dividing line in British politics is yet again on the economy. On the one side Labour, who want to change it so it benefits ordinary working people, and on the other, our political opponents, who support the current system and the failed doctrine of the past. We must now confront, and prevail in, the argument.

The Tories were given 14 years to resolve things and in reality, by every standard, they got far more dire. Their doctrinaire 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 after the pandemic – proved ineffective.

Record of Failure Under the Former Government

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 were stagnant, a housing crisis took hold, young people scarred by Covid were abandoned. The history of failure continues.

One budget alone can’t fix everything, so Labour has a long-term plan for rebuilding and for restructuring 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

During the Tories, welfare spending significantly increased. As did child poverty, because they failed to tackle the root causes: 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 solution.

It’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 drive for clean power.

Ending the Two-Child Limit

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

For almost a decade, since it was introduced, poorer 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 Communities

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 actual impact it’s had. Children wearing £1 wellies as school shoes, children going to bed hungry and cold, living in overcrowded, damp homes, parents during the holidays 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 Effects of Youth Hardship

Just one in four pupils from the most disadvantaged families achieve five good GCSEs, compared with almost 75% among affluent families. This predisposes them for the disadvantages they face during their lives: unrealized potential, economic struggles and ill health. Children who were raised in poverty are more likely to be jobless or poor as adults.

Confronting child poverty isn’t just a moral imperative, 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 expanding 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 more than 100 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 abolished.

Fair Financing for Policies

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

Conclusion

Fairness and direction – that’s how we will win the battle of ideas. This budget is a definitive statement that we gained 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 forcefully about what’s truly flawed with the country and how we are repairing it. We’ve certainly done that this week.

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