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Just recently, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, delivered a Labour Party budget. People have been asking for Labour’s purpose and values to be more clearly articulated. Through the decisions made – a transition to a more equitable tax system, focusing on wealth to pay for tackling 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 up for the battles to come. And it’s why the protests from the right began immediately.

The Main Political Divide in British Government

The central division in British politics is once again on the economy. On the one hand Labour, who aim to change it so it benefits ordinary working people, and on the opposite side, our political opponents, who favor the current system and the unsuccessful doctrine of the past. We must now confront, and win, the debate.

The Tories had 14 years to resolve things and in reality, by any measure, they got much worse. Their ideological austerity and trickle-down economics – tax breaks for the wealthy, reducing investment (leaving us with poor productivity and wages), and neglecting to support young people after the pandemic – proved ineffective.

Record of Failure Under the Former Administration

Living standards dropped by the biggest amount since records began, child poverty reached record levels, NHS waiting lists in England were the highest on record, wages were stagnant, a housing crisis became entrenched, young people scarred by Covid were left on the scrapheap. The history of failure continues.

One 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 case 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 ends up paying more to manage the effects instead of the solution.

It’s why we are constructing more social housing than for a generation, increasing wages and new rights for workers, massively boosting investment in infrastructure and new industries, reducing 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 lift the two-child benefit cap.

For eight long years, since it was introduced, low-income families with children have endured 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, ultimately, costs us more, as well as being heartless and immoral.

Real Impact in Communities

I know from my own constituency – where over 5,000 children will be raised 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 without food and cold, living in cramped, 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 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 nearly three in four among affluent families. This sets them up for the challenges they face during their lives: unrealized potential, economic struggles and poor health. Children who grew up in poverty are more likely to be jobless or poor as adults.

Confronting child poverty isn’t just a ethical duty, it is a future-oriented strategy. Poverty costs the economy far, far more than the £3bn cost of removing the two-child cap, or expanding 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 more than 100 extra children pushed into poverty. The benefits of lifting it won’t happen overnight either, so acting early in the parliament was crucial.

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

Equitable Financing for Policies

We, as Labour, can also be clear that these measures are being funded in a fair way – from a new gaming tax, eliminating tax loopholes and a new “mansion tax”.

Conclusion

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 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 keep hold of it and win this struggle about how we will rebuild Britain and tackle the entrenched inequalities impeding progress.