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Rachel Reeves' First Budget Is All Tricks And Few Treats...
Rachel Reeves' First Budget Is All Tricks And Few Treats...
30th November 2024
30th November 2024
Labour's much-trailed budget finally dropped on the day before Halloween, and what a fright it was for people all over our area.
Having spent the week under fire for their dubious definitions of a "working person", Labour rounded off their hundred day horror show with a budget that had even more tax rises than Norman Lamont's post Black Wednesday budget just over 30 years ago.
Older people were particularly targeted - already facing the loss of Winter Fuel Allowance, Reeves set her sights on the assets that people are looking to leave behind, with pensions and all but the smallest family farms now subject to inheritance tax.
Employers' National Insurance contribution rises had been widely expected, but Rachel Reeves' tax on jobs will still hurt small businesses with any more than a handful of employees - coupled with an inflation busting minimum wage hike, could this damage the creation of new jobs in the region?
Coming out with the biggest takeaway from the budget was of course the NHS - whose funding now is equal to the GDP of Nigeria, a country with a population of 236 million people. Wes Streeting is keen to get the waiting lists down, but he won't commit to a target. The Chancellor could be attempting to help out by imposing an increase on the sugar tax in soft drinks, but she has also introduced a new tax on vaping - one of the most successful smoking cessation aids available.
But as well as the punishing tax rises that were conspicuous by their absence in Labour's manifesto this summer, there were also a few gaffes - including one spotted by our own Deputy Chair Arnie Craven, which was picked up by major national journalists like The Sun political editor Harry Cole, and GB News' Tom Harwood. Arnie was quick to point out that Rachel Reeves' announcement of rail electrification funding was, in fact, already constructed in the last parliament- so not the work of the Labour government at all!
There was also widespread derision at Labour's announcement of a 1p reduction in the price of a pint of beer - a saving which could buy you three teaspoons' worth of milk, 10% of a plastic carrier bag or half a haribo sweet. And that reduction could well be wiped out by the increasing staff costs that will come from the increase in minimum wage.
The budget response was Rishi Sunak's last appearance at the despatch box as Leader of the Opposition, and he was on thundering form highlighting the tax rises that Conservatives predicted would come but Labour denied in the debates.
For many people in Britain this budget will mean hardship and struggle - not least the over 57,000 pensioners in Wakefield District who will lose their Winter Fuel Payment.
This Halloween budget is truly nightmarish - that's why it's more important than ever to make sure that people in our area don't let themselves be tricked again!
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