Through Ending a Harsh Tory Social Experiment, This Financial Plan Clearly Outlines How Labour Will Fight the Struggle to Revitalize Britain

Just recently, the finance minister, Rachel Reeves, presented a Labour Party budget. People have been asking for Labour’s purpose and values to be more clearly articulated. Through the choices made – a shift to a fairer tax system, focusing on wealth to pay for addressing child poverty, quality public services and the living expenses – we have unequivocally demonstrated what we believe in.

This is why Labour MPs cheered 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 Central Political Divide in UK Politics

The primary division 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 opposite side, our political opponents, who support the current system and the failed ideology of the past. We must now confront, and win, the debate.

The Tories were given 14 years to fix things and instead, by every standard, they got far more dire. Their ideological austerity and trickle-down economics – tax cuts for the wealthy, reducing investment (causing us with poor productivity and wages), and failing to support young people post-Covid – didn’t work.

Record of Failure Under the Previous Administration

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

A single 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 continue making the case for why our strategy will reap dividends.

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 ends up paying more to deal with the symptoms instead of the solution.

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

Ending the Two-Child Benefit Cap

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 enacted, poorer families with children have suffered from a cruel social experiment that was marketed as fair for working people when it was anything but. Most of the families affected 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.

Tangible Effects in Communities

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 £1 wellies as school shoes, children going to bed hungry and cold, living in cramped, damp 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 stretched but have to divert time and resources to supporting children who are living with the consequences of severe deprivation.

Lasting Effects of Child Poverty

Just one in four pupils from the poorest families achieve five good GCSEs, compared with almost 75% among affluent families. This sets them up for the disadvantages they face throughout their lives: missed 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 ethical duty, it is a long-term investment. Poverty costs the economy far, far more than the £3bn cost of lifting the two-child cap, or extending 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 more than 100 additional children pushed into poverty. The effects of lifting it will not occur overnight either, so acting early in the parliament was vital.

The cap was a symbol to 14 years of unsuccessful 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 just way – from a new gambling levy, closing tax loopholes and a new “mansion tax”.

Conclusion

Equity and purpose – that’s how we will succeed in 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 reclaim the political platform and define the narrative more forcefully about what’s truly flawed with the country and how we are fixing it. We’ve certainly done that this week.

So let’s keep hold of it and win this struggle about how we will renew Britain and address the entrenched inequalities holding us back.