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Yesterday, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, presented a Labour budget. People have been asking for Labour’s mission and values to be more distinctly articulated. Through the decisions made – a transition to a fairer tax system, targeting wealth to pay for tackling child poverty, good public services and the living expenses – we have unequivocally demonstrated what we stand for.

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 protests from the conservative side began immediately.

The Central Political Divide in UK Government

The central division in British politics is once again on the economy. On the one side Labour, who want to change it so it helps everyday working people, and on the other, our political opponents, who favor the status quo and the unsuccessful doctrine of the past. We must now take on, and prevail in, the argument.

The Tories were given 14 years to fix 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 poor productivity and wages), and neglecting to support young people post-Covid – didn’t work.

Record of Decline Under the Former Administration

Living standards dropped 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 remained flat, a housing crisis became entrenched, young people affected by Covid were abandoned. The history of failure continues.

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

Social Security 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, significant inequalities in education, health and regions. The state is forced to paying more to manage the effects instead of the cure.

That’s why we are building more affordable homes than for a generation, increasing wages and enhanced protections for workers, greatly increasing 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

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, low-income 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 has only served to push 300,000 more children into poverty – which, ultimately, costs us more, as well as being callous and unethical.

Tangible Effects in Communities

From experience from my own district – 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 without food and cold, living in cramped, mouldy 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 results of severe deprivation.

Lasting Effects of Child Poverty

Just one in four pupils from the most disadvantaged families achieve five good GCSEs, compared with nearly three in four among affluent families. This predisposes them for the challenges 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 moral imperative, it is a long-term investment. Poverty costs the economy far, far more than the three billion pound cost of removing the two-child cap, or extending free school meals.

That’s why we acted promptly in the budget, despite the very difficult economic context. Every day with this cap in place sees more than 100 extra children pushed into poverty. The effects of lifting it won’t happen overnight either, so taking early action in the parliament was vital.

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

Equitable Funding for Policies

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

Equity and direction – that’s how we will win the contest of ideas. This budget is a clear statement that we won the election as Labour, and will govern as Labour. As I consistently said during my campaign to become deputy leader, we must seize back the political platform and set the agenda more forcefully about what’s truly flawed with the country and how we are fixing it. We’ve definitely 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 impeding progress.