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Yesterday, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, delivered a Labour Party budget. The public have been calling for Labour’s mission and values to be more distinctly articulated. By way of the choices made – a shift to a more equitable tax system, focusing on wealth to fund tackling child poverty, good public services and the cost of living – we have clearly set out what we believe in.

This is why Labour MPs applauded in the Commons, and it’s why we are up for the battles to come. And it’s why the cries from the right began right away.

The Central Political Divide in British Government

The primary dividing line in British politics is yet again on the economy. On the one side Labour, who aim to change it so it helps everyday working people, and on the opposite side, our political opponents, who support the status quo and the failed ideology of the past. We must now confront, and prevail in, the argument.

The Tories were given 14 years to resolve things and in reality, by any measure, they got far more dire. Their ideological austerity and supply-side economics – tax cuts for the wealthy, cutting off investment (leaving us with low productivity and wages), and failing to support young people after the pandemic – didn’t work.

Legacy of Decline Under the Previous Administration

Quality of life fell by the largest margin since records began, child poverty hit record levels, NHS waiting lists in England were the highest they’ve ever been, wages remained flat, a housing crisis took hold, young people affected by Covid were abandoned. The history of failure goes on.

One budget alone can’t put all this right, so Labour has a long-term plan for renewal and for restructuring the country. And we have to go out and continue making the case for why our approach will reap dividends.

Social Security and Youth Deprivation

Under the Tories, welfare spending significantly increased. As did child poverty, because they didn’t address the underlying issues: low pay, high housing costs, significant inequalities in education, health and regions. The state is forced to paying more to manage the symptoms instead of the solution.

That’s why we are building 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 bringing down the costs of childcare and energy as we drive for clean power.

Ending the Two-Child Limit

It’s also why we are absolutely right to use this budget to remove the two-child benefit cap.

For almost a decade, since it was enacted, low-income families with children have endured from a cruel social experiment that was branded as fair for working people when it was the opposite. 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, ultimately, 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 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 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 severe deprivation.

Long-Term Consequences of Youth Hardship

Just one in four pupils from the most disadvantaged families achieve five good GCSEs, compared with almost 75% among affluent families. This sets them up for the disadvantages they face during their lives: missed potential, financial struggles and poor health. Children who were raised 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 significantly more than the three billion pound cost of removing 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 more than 100 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 rightwing ideology. Now it is abolished.

Equitable Financing for Measures

We, as Labour, can also be explicit that these initiatives are being funded 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 definitive statement that we gained the election as Labour, and will govern as Labour. As I repeatedly said during my campaign to become deputy leader, we must seize back the political megaphone and set the agenda 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 fight about how we will rebuild Britain and address the entrenched inequalities holding us back.