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Just recently, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, delivered a Labour Party budget. People have been asking for Labour’s mission and values to be more distinctly expressed. By way of the choices made – a transition to a more equitable tax system, focusing on wealth to fund addressing child poverty, good public services and the living expenses – we have clearly demonstrated what we believe in.

That’s why Labour MPs cheered in the Commons, and it’s why we are ready for the battles to come. And it’s why the cries from the conservative side began immediately.

The Main Political Divide in UK 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 everyday working people, and on the opposite side, our political opponents, who favor the status quo and the failed ideology of the past. We must now take on, and win, the argument.

The Tories had 14 years to fix things and instead, by any measure, they got far more dire. Their doctrinaire austerity and trickle-down economics – tax cuts for the wealthy, reducing investment (leaving us with low productivity and wages), and neglecting to support young people post-Covid – didn’t work.

Record of Failure Under the Former Government

Quality of life 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 abandoned. The history of failure goes on.

A single budget alone can’t fix everything, so Labour has a comprehensive plan for renewal and for restructuring the country. And we have to go out and keep making the argument for why our approach will yield benefits.

Social Security and Youth Deprivation

Under the Tories, welfare spending rose substantially. As did child poverty, because they failed to tackle the underlying issues: low pay, high housing costs, significant inequalities in education, health and regions. The state ends up paying more to manage the effects instead of the cure.

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 pursue clean power.

Removing the Two-Child Limit

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

For almost a decade, since it was enacted, poorer families with children have suffered from a unjust 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 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 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 overcrowded, mouldy 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 overburdened but have to redirect time and resources to supporting children who are living with the results of severe deprivation.

Long-Term Effects of Youth Hardship

Just a quarter of 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 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.

Addressing child poverty isn’t just a moral imperative, 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 extending free school meals.

This is the reason we acted urgently in the budget, despite the challenging economic context. Every day with this cap in place sees over a hundred extra children pushed into poverty. The effects of lifting it won’t happen overnight either, so acting early in the parliament was vital.

The cap was a totem to 14 years of failed rightwing ideology. Now it is abolished.

Equitable Funding for Measures

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

Final Thoughts

Fairness and purpose – that’s how we will succeed in the contest of ideas. This budget is a definitive statement that we gained the election as Labour, and will govern as Labour. As I consistently said during my campaign to become deputy leader, we must reclaim the political megaphone and set the agenda more strongly about what’s truly flawed with the country and how we are fixing it. We’ve certainly done that this week.

So let’s maintain it and win this struggle about how we will renew Britain and address the deep inequalities impeding progress.