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Just recently, the finance minister, Rachel Reeves, presented a Labour budget. The public have been asking for Labour’s mission and principles to be more clearly articulated. By way of the decisions made – a shift to a more equitable tax system, focusing on wealth to fund tackling child poverty, good public services and the living expenses – we have unequivocally demonstrated what we believe in.

This is 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 right away.

The Central Political Divide in UK Government

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

The Tories had 14 years to fix 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 (causing us with low productivity and wages), and neglecting to support young people after the pandemic – proved ineffective.

Record of Decline Under the Previous Administration

Quality of life fell by the biggest amount since records began, child poverty reached record levels, NHS waiting lists in England were the highest on record, wages remained flat, a housing crisis took hold, young people affected by Covid were left on the scrapheap. The record of failure goes on.

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 continue making the case for why our strategy will yield benefits.

Social Security and Child Poverty

During the Tories, welfare spending rose substantially. As did child poverty, because they didn’t address the root causes: low pay, high housing costs, deep inequalities in education, health and regions. The state is forced to paying more to manage the effects instead of the cure.

It’s why we are building more social housing than for a generation, increasing wages and enhanced protections for workers, massively boosting investment in infrastructure and new industries, reducing waiting lists down and lowering the costs of childcare and energy as we pursue clean power.

Removing the Two-Child Limit

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

For eight long years, since it was introduced, poorer families with children have endured from a cruel social experiment that was branded as fair for working people when it was anything but. 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 callous and unethical.

Tangible Effects in Communities

I know from my own constituency – where over 5,000 children will be lifted out of poverty as a result of ending 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 overcrowded, mouldy homes, parents this Christmas relying 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 overburdened but have to divert time and resources to supporting children who are living with the results of severe deprivation.

Lasting 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 sets them up for the disadvantages they face throughout their lives: unrealized 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 significantly more than the £3bn cost of lifting 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 over a hundred 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 symbol to 14 years of unsuccessful rightwing ideology. Now it is gone.

Fair Financing for Policies

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 win the battle of ideas. This budget is a definitive statement that we gained 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 platform and define the narrative more forcefully about what’s really wrong with the country and how we are fixing it. We’ve definitely done that this week.

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