‘We will grow our economy’ - South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck on Labour’s first Budget

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In her fortnightly column in the Shields Gazette, South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck has addressed the first Labour Budget since 2010.

This week, our country’s first ever female Chancellor delivered the first Labour Budget in 14 years.

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I am writing this piece prior to the Budget announcement in the House, but we know already there will rightly be a focus on investment and growth. 

Our recent Investment Summit saw £63 billion pounds of investment, with nearly 40,000 jobs delivered across the UK. These are jobs done by workers who will be better protected under our New Deal at work legislation.

We have already introduced GB Energy to drive down bills and create more jobs, we have created the National Wealth Fund to unlock investment and introduced legislation to bring our rail and buses into public ownership. But we know there is much more to do. 

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Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, delivered the first Budget of the new Labour government on Wednesday, October 30.Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, delivered the first Budget of the new Labour government on Wednesday, October 30.
Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, delivered the first Budget of the new Labour government on Wednesday, October 30. | Getty Images

We have promised that there will be no increase to Income Tax, National Insurance, or VAT for working people.

There will be an increase in the National Minimum Wage, a rise in the State Pension, investment in our NHS, schools, and spending on council homes. 

The Prime Minister has repeatedly said there will be no return to austerity and that we will take action on fraud, tax avoidance and waste because every single penny of taxpayers’ money should be spent wisely. 

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I know that for many people, austerity never ended and I have been making the case in advance of the budget that, whilst growth is absolutely the right priority, we need to help those people and services who have suffered the most over the last 14 years because they can’t wait for growth - they need support now. 

There will be difficult decisions made but they should never fall on the shoulders of those people and communities least able to bear it. 

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The Conservatives crashed the economy. Their greed and mismanagement left a £22 billion-pound black hole in the nation’s finances and left our country’s people and services at breaking point.

The Labour Party never has and never will take such a reckless approach.

We will grow our economy and rebuild our country. That is the change people voted for and the change we are determined to deliver. 

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