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Yesterday, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, delivered a Labour budget. People have been asking for Labour’s mission and values to be more clearly articulated. By way of the decisions made – a shift to a more equitable tax system, targeting wealth to fund addressing child poverty, quality public services and the living expenses – we have clearly 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 protests from the conservative side began immediately.

The Main Political Divide in UK Politics

The central division in British politics is once again on the economy. On the one side Labour, who aim to change it so it helps everyday working people, and on the other, our political opponents, who support the current system and the failed ideology of the past. We must now confront, and win, the argument.

The Tories were given 14 years to fix things and in reality, by every standard, they got far more dire. Their doctrinaire austerity and supply-side economics – tax breaks for the wealthy, reducing investment (leaving us with low productivity and wages), and neglecting to support young people post-Covid – proved ineffective.

Record of Failure Under the Previous Government

Living standards fell by the largest margin 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 became entrenched, young people scarred by Covid were abandoned. The history of failure goes on.

One budget alone can’t fix everything, so Labour has a comprehensive plan for rebuilding and for rewiring the country. And we have to go out and continue making the argument for why our approach will reap dividends.

Social Security and Child Poverty

Under the Tories, welfare spending significantly increased. 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 deal with the effects instead of the solution.

That’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 bringing down the costs of childcare and energy as we pursue clean power.

Ending the Two-Child Limit

This is also the reason we are absolutely right to use this budget to remove the two-child benefit cap.

For eight long years, 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 the opposite. 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 immoral.

Tangible Effects in Local Areas

From experience from my own district – 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 low-cost wellies as school shoes, children going to bed without food and cold, living in overcrowded, mouldy homes, parents during the holidays depending 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 redirect time and resources to supporting children who are living with the results of deep poverty.

Lasting Consequences of Child Poverty

Just one in four pupils from the poorest families achieve five good GCSEs, compared with almost 75% among affluent families. This predisposes them for the disadvantages they face during their lives: missed potential, economic struggles and poor health. Children who were raised 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 far, far more than the three billion pound cost of lifting the two-child cap, or expanding free school meals.

That’s why we acted urgently 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 will not occur overnight either, so taking early action in the parliament was vital.

The cap was a symbol to 14 years of failed conservative ideology. Now it is abolished.

Fair Funding for Measures

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

Final Thoughts

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 lead as Labour. As I consistently said during my campaign to become deputy leader, we must seize back 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 definitely done that this week.

So let’s maintain it and win this fight about how we will rebuild Britain and address the deep inequalities holding us back.