By Halting a Harsh Tory Welfare Policy, This Financial Plan Clearly Outlines How Labour Will Fight the Battle to Revitalize Britain

Just recently, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, delivered a Labour Party budget. The public have been calling for Labour’s purpose and principles to be more distinctly articulated. Through the decisions 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 set out what we stand for.

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

The Central Political Divide in British Politics

The central division in British politics is once again on the economy. On the one hand Labour, who aim to change it so it helps ordinary working people, and on the other, our opponents, who support the current system and the unsuccessful ideology of the past. We must now take on, and win, the debate.

The Tories were given 14 years to resolve things and instead, by every standard, they got much worse. Their doctrinaire austerity and trickle-down economics – tax breaks for the wealthy, reducing investment (leaving us with poor productivity and wages), and failing to support young people post-Covid – didn’t work.

Record of Failure Under the Previous Government

Quality of life 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 history of failure goes on.

A single 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 argument for why our strategy will reap dividends.

Welfare Spending and Youth Deprivation

During the Tories, welfare spending significantly increased. As did child poverty, because they didn’t address the root causes: low pay, high housing costs, deep inequalities in education, health and regions. The state ends up paying more to manage the effects instead of the solution.

It’s why we are building more social housing than for a generation, raising wages and new rights for workers, massively boosting investment in infrastructure and new industries, getting waiting lists down and lowering the costs of childcare and energy as we pursue 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 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’s done nothing but push 300,000 more children into poverty – which, in the end, costs us more, as well as being callous and unethical.

Tangible Effects in Communities

I know 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 without food and cold, living in overcrowded, damp homes, parents during the holidays depending 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 overburdened but have to redirect time and resources to supporting children who are living with the consequences of severe deprivation.

Lasting Consequences of Youth Hardship

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

Addressing child poverty isn’t just a ethical duty, it is a future-oriented strategy. Poverty costs the economy significantly more than the £3bn cost of lifting the two-child cap, or expanding free school meals.

This is the reason 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 benefits of lifting it won’t happen overnight either, so taking early action in the parliament was vital.

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

Equitable Funding for Measures

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

Conclusion

Equity and purpose – that’s how we will win the contest of ideas. This budget is a definitive statement that we won 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 repairing it. We’ve certainly done that this week.

So let’s maintain it and prevail in this fight about how we will rebuild Britain and tackle the entrenched inequalities impeding progress.