Kate Osborne MP: Budget gives people immediate breathing space - this should not be underrated

I know how much pressure people are under. Whether it’s the weekly shop, putting petrol in the car or worrying about the next energy bill, too many families are struggling to make ends meet.

Of course, one budget isn’t going to undo 14 years of austerity cuts and decades of decline that came before it. Communities like ours know better than most what happens when industries are closed, public services sold off, and decisions made by people who have little understanding of the places affected.

But what’s been shown by Andy Burnham and Chancellor John Healey, particularly during the Jarrow March commemorations which took place last month, is that they do understand – better than most – what needs to change to make a difference to places like Jarrow and Gateshead East.

What this Budget does is to give people immediate breathing space. This should not be underrated. After years of every bill going up while wages stood still, breathing space is exactly what families have been asking for.

There is a lot that will make a real difference to family budgets, like the £100 Household Energy Payment. 96% of households in Jarrow and Gateshead East – almost every family in our community – will be paid £100 in January 2027.

This comes alongside the end of standing charges on gas bills for 23 million households, VAT on household electricity is being cut to zero, fuel duty is frozen, and tariffs are coming off 100 essential food items.

Some have dismissed this Budget as a number of small policies, but these are real changes that will make a real difference to families: Like another one that will make a difference – the increase in tax-free allowance for UK side hustles - people selling things on vinted, or making things to sell online will now not be taxed on the first £3000.

I was also pleased to see help for our high streets. Neglected for too long, revitalising our high streets is a priority for me and something I wrote to the Chancellor on before the budget.

The Government’s new High Streets Strategy includes actions to tackle problem businesses like vape shops and adult gaming centres: something I’ve been campaigning on for some time.

At the same time, a 20% cut in business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues, and a higher threshold meaning thousands of small businesses will pay no rates at all, will give small business, and our high streets, room to flourish.

The extra £432 million for homelessness, and new powers for councils over empty homes, is really significant. Nobody should be sleeping in a doorway in South Tyneside, Gateshead or indeed anywhere in the UK. I am pleased the Government has promised every homeless person a route off the streets by Christmas.

The Budget also gives the North East more control, shifting power away from Westminster. New investment funds, borrowing powers and a share of income tax mean that our Mayor, Kim McGuinness, can make more decisions here. Gateshead being chosen to host the International Investment Summit, the first time outside London and the South East, shows our region’s economy is being considered seriously by our new Prime Minister.

But I do want to see this Labour government go further. We cannot keep running a country where people work hard all their lives and still struggle to get by, while enormous wealth is accumulated by a fortunate few.

It’s why I’ve supported calls for a wealth tax on those with assets worth more than £10 million. It would affect just 0.04% of the population but could raise £24 billion for the public services and communities that desperately need it.

I want to also address the issue of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme, In 1994, when British Coal was privatised, the government became guarantor of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme and in return took half of any surplus. For decades the Treasury took billions from miners’ pensions without paying a penny back in.

Our Labour Government made clear we would right that wrong - and we have started to – in 2024, £1.5 billion was returned to former miners. Last week the Chancellor guaranteed that all of the scheme’s surplus will now go to miners - and this week he confirmed that would be in weeks – not months.

I have been making representations to the Chancellor, meeting him directly and signing letters alongside colleagues as well as discussing directly with the Miners Pension Scheme Reps to let them know; I will not stop fighting until the £1.2 billion that is still in the Guarantors’ Fund is transferred to the people that it belongs to.