PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Budget Resolutions - 6 November 2024 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

I call Jonathan Reynolds.

The Secretary of State makes much of growth. Of course we all want growth, but the OBR report actually says that growth in real GDP will start to slow over the next three years and that in years four and five of the Parliament it will go negative. It is telling us that the Government’s Budget is actually going to result in a smaller private sector, not a larger one. How is he going to explain that to business?

The right hon. Gentleman will, I hope, be aware that the long-term economic growth of this country relies not primarily on public investment or indeed public infrastructure, but on a healthy private sector—the wealth creators from whom we can take the funding to deliver into those goods that he talks about and that are part of a balanced and successful society. This Budget does not help them. It does the opposite.

Will the Minister give way?

I hope the Minister will not be disappointed.

There are many good things in what the Government have brought forward, but what is missing, unfortunately, is support for farmers on inheritance tax. Farmers are the backbone of Britain, and they produce almost all the food we eat across this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Farmers will be impacted greatly.

I declare an interest as a member of the Ulster Farmers Union and the National Farmers’ Union, and all the farmers I talk to in Northern Ireland have indicated that every farmer in Northern Ireland will be affected by inheritance tax. If the Government want to get it right, the threshold needs to be raised, and it is not too late. Raise the threshold to £4 million or £5 million so that family farms, the backbone of Britain, can continue.

Will the Minister give way?

How does that all gel with the fact that the OBR is saying that business investment will fall by 0.6%, as a share of GDP, by 2029? It sounds great, but it does not add up in the OBR’s eyes. Will the Minister please elaborate?

The problem with our economy is that, too often, people build small businesses and then sell them off. They do not sit and develop them before potentially handing them on. Can the Minister explain how the proposed inheritance tax changes will encourage people to take risks in nurturing and growing their businesses in order to pass them on to succeeding generations? Plainly, his suggestion will have the reverse effect and will, therefore, make the situation worse, which will damage growth.

On the sectors that will benefit, does the Secretary of State agree that the hospitality sector would benefit more from some honesty and openness? The Government announced a 6% increase for people on the minimum wage, many of whom are employed in the private hospitality sector, but while our constituents will pay for that, the Treasury will benefit by hundreds of millions of pounds, because almost all those minimum wage earners will become taxpayers overnight.

The hon. Gentleman should recognise that the Chancellor did not make an announcement on personal tax thresholds, which, for some Conservative Members, was unexpected and reflected the difficult inheritance of the new Government. Labour Members are proud of the minimum wage, now called the living wage, which has been one of the most successful policies in the history of this country—and even some Conservatives claim credit or support the measure as a policy innovation.

There is no doubt about the burden on the hospitality sector, because if the living wage goes up for people employed in it, that is a business cost. We have to acknowledge that. What those businesses fundamentally need are customers who have some spending power to use their disposable income in those places. The rise is not without benefit, but I recognise that it is painful.

The future for this country, however, cannot be as a low-wage, low-productivity economy that does not give people the living standards they want. I have been on television many times talking about the stagnant wages of the last Government. I want wages to be higher. The doubling of the employment allowance in the Budget recognises the burden on those types of businesses, which can now employ up to four people on the living wage without any national insurance liabilities at all. We have to have a system that accommodates those burdens, but fundamentally this Government are in favour of higher wages, and we are not going to pull away from that in any measure.

The Secretary of State is right to emphasise the importance of a well-funded public sector and well-provisioned public- sector organisations to economic growth. He will also be aware that questions remain about how much additional support public-sector organisations will receive to cover the additional costs of employer national insurance contributions. Does the Secretary of State expect or anticipate those employers to be compensated in full for those additional costs?

The hon. Gentleman raises a legitimate point that is considerably outside the remit of the Department for Business and Trade. He is right to put that issue on the record. There will be opportunity for clarity in that space. I understand why, for his constituents, he will want to ask that question in the Budget debate.

As Members’ interventions have shown, the Budget is not just about a set of policies that will be to the advantage of larger businesses; they will also be important to our smallest start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as for our oldest, biggest family firms. We have committed to hardwiring the views of small businesses into everything we do, and we have already started to do that. That is why in September, together with the Federation of Small Businesses, we announced robust measures to tackle late payments with a new fair payment code and tough, new rules on company reporting.

At the same time, we are reforming the British Business Bank to free up precious capital for SMEs to expand, to create new jobs, and to take ideas from design to development. The Chancellor’s Budget gives the green light to my Department to invest over £1 billion over the next two years so that the British Business Bank can widen access to finance for small businesses across the country. That includes over £250 million each year for small business loans programmes, like our start-up loans and the growth guarantee scheme.

As hon. Members will know and have asked about during the debate, while we are raising national insurance contributions, we have mitigated the impacts for small businesses by doubling the employment allowance to £10,500. That means 1 million small businesses will either be paying the same or less in national insurance contributions than they do now. That is why the Federation of Small Businesses has said that the

“Budget shows a clear direction in business policy now for the whole of this Parliament to target support at small businesses…prioritising everyday entrepreneurs working in local communities in all parts of the country.”

Through this new support for SMEs, the stability afforded by our new industrial strategy and the resetting of our trade relations, we are showing unequivocally that the UK supports business, wants to partner with business and is open for business.

That pro-worker, pro-business approach is already having a significant impact. Last month, hundreds of the world’s biggest firms and investors, from Blackstone to the BW Group, Haleon to Holtec, lined up at our international investment summit to back Britain and back this Government’s growth mission. That summit resulted in £63 billion of private investment commitments, more than double the amount secured by the previous Government last year—and in just 100 days. It will see billions of pounds flowing into our tech, digital, manufacturing and life sciences sectors, spurring growth in all four nations of the United Kingdom and creating almost 38,000 new jobs in the process.

We saw something else at that business and international investment summit: a ringing endorsement of this Government’s restoration of stability for the UK economy. IFM Investors said that it was

“very encouraged by the new government’s commitment to a long-term pro-investment mindset.”

Ørsted, a global leader in green energy, stated that the main reason it was investing more in the UK was because of our green energy targets. It recognised us as

“a government who wants work with business to enable the investments required.”

M&G went one step further. It said:

“The UK has a clear national mission to drive economic growth and back wealth creation across every region of the country.”

It welcomed our efforts to

“put the UK back on the investor map, showcase market opportunities and reinforce how business and government can work in partnership.”

Let there be no doubt, despite the dust the Opposition are trying to kick up, this is a Budget with stability at its core, which sets a course for growth and rebuilds Britain. The former Prime Minister’s response baulked at the wave of new investment this Budget ushers, but he could not be more wrong. While we are restoring economic stability and going for growth, we are keeping debt on a downward path. Indeed, on the back of the Budget, the IMF has said that it supports the reduction in the deficit over the medium term, including by sustainably raising revenue. It recognises what we on the Government Benches know to be true—the principal way to drive economic growth is to invest, invest and invest.

May I remind the Opposition that we have tried their way? All that did was stagnate wages, stifle growth and put the public finances into a £22 billion black hole, with nothing to show for it. We cannot cut our way out of a hole; we need investment to lift the economy up. Having endured the last Government lurching from crisis to crisis, the British people voted in July overwhelmingly for change. They voted for a Government that would set Budgets to serve their long-term interests, not serve the news cycle or election cycle. They voted for stability, for growth and to fix the foundations. That is exactly what this Budget delivers, and I commend it to the House.

Before I call the next speaker, I wish to make a short and hopefully helpful statement. It is about the way in which Members are called to speak in debates. Members who wish to catch my eye, or indeed the eye of Mr Speaker himself or any of the other Deputy Speakers, should write to Mr Speaker in advance. Those who have not written in may still be called, but priority will be given to those who have applied in writing in advance.

Members who have applied to speak, but no longer wish to do so, should notify the Speaker’s Office as soon as possible. Once you have written in to request to speak, you should turn up in the Chamber for the start of the debate and for all contributions from the Front Bench. You should be present in the Chamber for most of the debate. If you are not able to be here because of other commitments, then you should withdraw your application to speak.

Selection of speakers in debates is at the discretion of the Chair. The Chair, however, cannot predict precisely when a Member might expect to speak. When a very large number of Members have put in to speak, as we have seen over the course of the entire Budget debate, it may not be possible to get you all in, even with the use of time limits. If for any reason you need to be briefly absent from the Chamber during the debate in which you are down to speak, you should notify the Chair, but a prolonged absence may result in your name being removed from the list.

May I ask Members not to crowd the Chair, please, to make requests about when they are likely to be called? Please go through your Whip. It is very distracting and difficult for the Chair, particularly if there are a large number of interventions and a large number of Members trying to speak to me. Please go through your Whip, who will be able to handle those requests appropriately.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I start by congratulating our US allies on the election of their 47th president? When it comes to business and trade, America is our most important partner. As our economies are so interlinked, nearly 1.5 million Brits work for American companies, and more than 1.2 million Americans work for British companies. That trade relationship is worth £280 billion a year, and the amount invested in each other’s economies has now surpassed £1 trillion.

The Government may be right to say that there is much to rebuild in Britain today, but what this Budget does, combined with the Government’s nationalisation of railways, Employment Rights Bill, and Great British Energy, is to take us further away from that goal, with higher taxes, more regulation, bigger government and a smaller wealth-producing part of the economy. It is a Budget for prejudice rather than for progress. While Labour Members will praise the Budget for its finer measures and the socialist purity of its design, their constituents can see that, when it comes to growth, the Budget emperor has no clothes. The Office for Budget Responsibility strips it back to its stark, naked flesh. It says that Budget policies temporarily boost output in the near term, but leave GDP largely unchanged in five years. If growth is their central mission, the Government have already failed.

In the harsh light of day, the Secretary of State’s colleagues are starting to realise that the Budget is not such an appealing sell. As was reported on Sunday, Labour Back Benchers have said that the Chancellor’s Budget is impossible to sell to horrified constituents—they have been reading their emails again. One colleague of the Secretary of State for Business and Trade told The Daily Telegraph, “It has been received very badly indeed within the Labour party”. There is a stark contrast between what the OBR is saying and what those on the Government Front Bench are claiming. The chances are that it will not be a growth Budget, as is claimed. All the evidence is that it will have no more growth by the end of it, and it will certainly be paid for by higher effective taxes on working people.

The Secretary of State’s colleagues are right, and no wonder. The private sector experience of the Cabinet could barely fill a beer glass, let alone a boardroom. Conservative Members know that it is business that creates jobs and the prosperity to pay for our public services. Businesses are the builders, and there is no rebuilding without them. That is something that Labour Members simply do not understand. Britain’s business needs a Government who have their back, not one that drags them down.

Under the previous Government, life expectancy plateaued, and the number of people living with long-term ill health increased. Was that good for business?

The ability to continue to invest in our public services, and the sterling work done by the predecessor Government on levelling up every part of the United Kingdom—[Interruption.] Government Members do not like it, but that work relies fundamentally on private enterprise, which pays the taxes that fund the prosperity and the infrastructure that this country needs. I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman is merely showing once again his party’s deficient understanding of how a modern economy works—it is markets, not Governments, that drive up prosperity—and how free trade has improved human health.

Does the shadow Secretary of State think that the Conservative-designed and implemented Brexit is good for markets, good for business, and good for growth?

Well, we will talk a little later about stability. If colleagues do not have maiden speeches to make, I will be very happy to talk at great length about the many benefits of Brexit and the important ability for a country to make its own laws and deliver benefits for the economy.

Let me make some progress. The Secretary of State has talked much about infrastructure, and, indeed, that is partly the subject of today’s debate. Although creating infrastructure is a noble goal, important to all the constituents who send us here, words, I am afraid, are cheap, and the actions of his party somewhat undermine his position. His party voted in the other place against measures to allow 100,000 homes to be built, and his Labour Mayor of London failed to build to such an extent that the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government now proposes lowering his targets. This Labour Budget has pulled up the housing ladder for so many, by increasing the burden of stamp duty for first-time buyers. Currently, an estimated 80% of first-time buyers pay no stamp duty, but from April 2025, that could fall to only half.

I will happily give way to the hon. Lady, particularly if she can tell me how this Budget will help deliver for first-time buyers.

Does the shadow Secretary of State agree that this Labour Government will help renters by banning no-fault evictions?

I was party to the debate in which my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition talked about the unintended consequences of piling burden upon burden on the rental market—in a well-meaning way, I accept. We have only to look north of the border, where similar measures were introduced, to see their devastating effect on the rental markets, and the shocking increase in rents as a result of a Government trying to over-regulate a sector.

Laughably, while the Government talk about investment, in their first 100 days, they cancelled the restoring your railway programme—clearly, with some projects being honourable exceptions—which would have made it easier for constituents to get to work sustainably. They have also cancelled road schemes, including the A303 scheme and—I declare an interest—the A27 Arundel bypass in my constituency. It is not the first time that a Labour Government have cancelled that bypass. The Government talk a great deal about the future of this country, the technology and their modern industrial strategy, but should not new innovative technologies, such as artificial intelligence and supercomputing, be at the heart of that?

I will happily give way to the Secretary of State if he wants to explain why he no longer deems it important to invest in these crucial parts of the economy.

Order. The Secretary of State knows better than to say “you”.

We would have got a better answer from ChatGPT. The reality is that the Budget not only increased taxes in the outyears by £40 billion a year but increased borrowing by £140 billion over the course of the plans—yet despite that largesse, there was no room to fulfil the mandate of British researchers and continue to invest in the supercomputer and infrastructure that they need.

A Business Secretary in the last Government wrote an industrial strategy, but it was quickly binned. Under the Conservatives’ new leadership, what is their position on industrial strategy, because we went without one for many years?

Forgive me if the hon. Member has been here for more than 120 days, but I fully support the sectors, and the industrial strategies that the Government have articulated for them, because the strategies continue on from, and are identical to, those of the previous Government. Not for the first time, we see what I call name-plating from this Government. A British business bank—the UK Infrastructure Bank—is being re-name-plated as a national wealth fund. The modern industrial strategy takes the existing science, technology and innovation framework, our plan for financial services and our creative industries strategy and re-name-plates them under a different banner. That is welcome. There is nothing quite as flattering as plagiarism, and I am delighted that those really important sectors of the economy will benefit from a degree of continuity.

The Budget has been absolutely crushing for business. If the Secretary of State is honest, he will know that from his engagement. The only thing that it has delivered to businesses across the country is more burdens. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the increase in national insurance contributions amounts to a £25 billion tax on business. The reduction of the national insurance threshold by over £4,000 will keep small and medium-sized businesses up at night. Let us not equivocate: the measures in the Budget amount, in the words of the Chancellor herself, to a “jobs tax”. From industry leaders to shop owners, those in the retail, hospitality and leisure industries in particular will think back to what they heard during the election campaign.

I know that my hon. Friend follows these things closely. According to the OBR, the £26 billion jobs tax bombshell actually nets only £16 billion because of reduced investment and other funds, and three quarters of the £26 billion falls on workers’ wages. Only this socialist Government could be so incompetent as to reduce wages by more than they will take from a tax that they have introduced. I have not heard that observation yet in the debate, but I share it with my hon. Friend.

My right hon. Friend is exactly right. We have heard talk from Labour Members of a circular economy. Well, this is entirely circular. As the OBR observes, the measure does not add to growth, and as my right hon. Friend mentioned, three quarters of the burden will fall on the low-paid. The Labour party has a distinguished record on these matters, and if Labour Members are serious and thoughtful about this, they will interrogate their Front-Benchers in much greater depth, because the measure will result in lower-paid, poorer jobs—and it will be much harder for people to get on the jobs ladder in the first place.

There is an enormous number of unanswered questions. The impact on GPs is uncosted.

And on charities.

Indeed, there will be an impact on charities and the third sector—those who care for us at the most difficult points in life. On Friday, I met representatives from a charity in my constituency that cares for those with dementia. Its income is fixed, its needs are ever present, and as a result of this Labour Budget, it simply does not know how it will balance its books.

Is the reality not that the Labour Government also do not know how they will balance the books? I asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in a written parliamentary question how much the rise in employer national insurance contributions will cost the Department. The Government said that they did not know.

Either the Government do not know but should know, or they do know and should say.

The Budget also included the highest-ever increase in capital gains tax, and a reduction in business property relief. Just as with the family farm tax, that reduction is an attack on the family-owned businesses that dominate our high streets and industrial parks. The incentive to take risk, and to create and grow a family business with the objective of passing it on, will be fundamentally undermined. Some 75% of UK businesses are family run, and in aggregate they employ 50% of all workers in the economy. We are talking about decades of hard work, dedicated to building a legacy, and people creating an insurance policy for their passing. The so-called “loopholes” in inheritance tax that Government Front-Benchers talk about are legitimate tax policies, introduced by a Labour Government in 1976 to ensure that businesses were not broken up and devastated on the death of an owner, to the detriment of the remaining employees, workers, suppliers, customers, the wider economy, and even the Treasury, which would lose future tax take. This measure could be devastating for our communities and our high streets up and down the country.

It is not just Conservative Members who are sounding the alarm, though we may be doing it with a greater degree of passion. The chief executive officer of UKHospitality said that the increase in national insurance will undermine businesses operating at the margins and

“be a brake on growth”.

Family Business UK, which represents family-owned enterprises, has said that the Budget

“removes entirely any incentive for starting or running a family business.”

The hon. Gentleman will recall that in the 2022 spring Budget, the Conservative party increased national insurance for employers by 1.25%, and he supported that. Can he explain why he was in favour of it then but opposes it now, even though we have introduced increased employment allowances that counteract the change?

I am pretty sure that at the time, the now Chancellor described the increase as a “jobs tax”, and that is exactly what this is. What we are seeing is not a need to balance the nation’s books on the back of a global supply chain squeeze, higher energy costs due to the war in Ukraine and the aftermath of covid, but a Government coming in with premeditated plans that they did not share with the British people, and setting the biggest-ever tax raid Budget in British history. That is an enormous difference, and business understands it; it can see through this Government.

One of the UK’s leading hospitality entrepreneurs is Luke Johnson, who runs Gail’s, which I believe some of my Liberal Democrat colleagues are rather keen on—they are the party of Gail’s. He said:

“It is heartbreaking that Britain’s proud record of innovation, flexibility and business success is being thrown away thanks to that old knee-jerk Labour instinct of taxing success.”

I agree.

It is clear that the hon. Gentleman disagrees with the way in which the Budget raises revenue. Does he oppose the £22 billion investment in the NHS, the investment in special educational needs and disabilities education, or the increases in the schools budget?

I hope that the hon. Gentleman has a long and successful career in this House, but he will not have very long to wait; if he is concerned about a lack of investment in the NHS, I ask him to sit down with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and ask exactly what the rate of growth will be for NHS spending and departmental spending in the years ’26-27 and ’27-28. Then perhaps he could come back and tell me what he thinks about that level of spending growth.

The Government talk of stabilising the economy—we have heard a lot about that—but this is not a Budget for stability; it is anything but. Let me educate Labour colleagues. There is nothing stable about lowering the rate of economic growth. All that does is create a more fragile and susceptible economy. There is nothing sustainable about a Government changing the fiscal rules after saying that they would not. Even with the potentially unsustainable levels of departmental spend, there is nothing stable in a Government having a razor-thin level of headroom that the OBR quantifies at only £10 billion—just one third of the level that the Chancellor’s predecessor set—to ensure that they remain within the fiscal rules, which they have just made up, by the way.

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will happily give way to the hon. Lady if she wants to talk about headroom in the fiscal rules, and the lack thereof.

The hon. Gentleman is talking about stability, but does he recognise the irony in his party—the party of Liz Truss—lecturing the Government about stability?

The—[Interruption.] I am trying to find something relevant to say to the hon. Lady. There is a—[Interruption.]

I will happily give way in a minute. At least the Budget that the hon. Lady talks about was an attempt to do two things. First, it sought to shield households in this country from going into a cold winter with an increase in energy bills—her Labour colleagues may wish to contemplate what they have done to 8 million pensioners through the reduction of the winter fuel allowance. Secondly, it was a Budget for growth. This Budget, as we have observed—[Interruption.] Well, some people are making interesting comments, but the direction in this Budget is to lower, rather than increase, growth.

Does my hon. Friend agree that, in the reaction to the Budget, the gilt market is in a far worse position than it was following the mini-Budget? Labour Members might want to do some research into the impact of their own Budget.

Well, my—[Interruption.]

Order. I will hear the shadow Secretary of State.

My hon. Friend makes exactly the right point. The Government are enormously lucky, given the spike in gilt yields over the preceding weeks and subsequent to the Budget, that the previous Government dealt with the aftermath of the financial regulatory failure in respect of liability-driven investment. We dealt with that, and as a result we have a more stable financial system, which has been able, so far, to survive what the Government have done.

In evidence taken by the Treasury Committee yesterday, Richard Hughes explained, and I shall say this slowly, that an increase to interest rates of just 0.3%—one third of 1%—would wipe out all the headroom. That is in the OBR’s economic and fiscal outlook, and is no doubt why the OBR gives the Government only a 54% chance of hitting their targets. That is barely better than the odds on a coin toss.

So there we have it. The Government spent months talking up their credentials on enterprise. They looked business owners in the eye and told them that they would have their back and support them, but 120 days later they went back on their promise—a prawn cocktail offensive with a nasty dose of indigestion. They have crushed confidence and destroyed investment. They have checked any incentive for growth. They have left thousands of enterprising strivers wondering when the day will come when the shutters on their shops are not lifted any more. I dare the Secretary of State to stand before the 4.8 million family business owners and tell them that this is a Budget that will work for them. Risk takers and wealth creators deserve a Government who have their back, invest in infrastructure and do not embolden the inefficiencies of the public sector. Be in no doubt: while the Government keep growth, innovation and entrepreneurs in their crosshairs, the Conservatives will always be on the side of business.

I am delighted to speak about the first Labour Budget in 14 years. For my constituents, the last fourteen years have been difficult. Too often, they felt that the then Government were not on their side. That Government did not hear that austerity left us not only with deteriorating public services but more fragile communities. They did not reform the planning system, which would have alleviated the housing crisis and stopped the 20% to 30% rent increases that left many of my constituents facing eviction during a cost of living crisis. They did not take the difficult decisions to protect the economy, and left our new Government with a black hole to fill.

We heard loud and clear in July that government must be different. This Budget offers that. We have a rise to the national living wage and to the rate for under-21s, which will make work pay whatever someone’s age. Funding of over £25 billion for the NHS over the next two years will deliver more doctors and tens of thousands of extra appointments, helping hospitals such as St Thomas’, just over the river in my constituency.

As the Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, I have heard a lot from our local authorities, which have borne the brunt of the failure to tackle the housing crisis. Councils have been forgotten, with devastating consequences for communities. Yesterday, at our first public Committee meeting, we heard from homelessness organisations and local authority representatives on the state of temporary accommodation. Councils are having to spend unsustainable amounts to fill gaps in that area, which is driving them to near bankruptcy. In London alone, 70% of local authority housing budgets are being absorbed by temporary accommodation. That means less money for repairs and maintenance of housing stock, which leaves tenants feeling the increase in the crisis.

The human impact is even more shocking. As I speak, over 150,000 children are in temporary accommodation across England. In the last five years, 55 children have died in circumstances linked to temporary accommodation; 42 of them were under the age of one. That should shock and shame us. Those deaths are not coincidental. Yesterday, the Committee heard about families living in one room. That can stunt a child’s growth because they are not able to do the things they should, such as crawling. We heard about how a child’s ability to form social attachments with peers can be affected by the lack of consistency caused by constant moving. We heard about how parents are often plunged into mental health crises because of the stress of raising a family in those conditions, which further isolates the child.

The Government can and must do better. I welcome the steps in this Budget to supplement the affordable housing programme, increase homelessness spending and scale back right to buy to boost our social housing stock, but they must be first steps. We need further significant change in the upcoming funding settlement, and the next Budget must truly start to address that crisis. I am particularly worried about the freeze to local housing allowance rate, because it is a lifeline for people who are struggling. That is covered by the Department for Work and Pensions, but the measure could have a significant impact on attempts to tackle the homelessness crisis, so it must be addressed in upcoming statements.

The deep harm caused by the last 14 years cannot and will not be fixed overnight. The Budget is the first in my five years in this House that gives us a glimmer of hope and a road map for fixing our broken public services. I congratulate the Chancellor and her team on getting on with the job so quickly, but I will be a voice for the thousands of families who continue to fall through the cracks with no safety net beneath them. They cannot afford to wait any longer for help—they need it now. I urge the Government to give attention to people in crisis, such as those in temporary accommodation. We cannot, as a Labour Government, risk failing a generation of young people.

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi), who has given another customarily powerful speech and reminded us of the injustices facing those who fall between the cracks.

We live in an uncertain and unstable world, and the US election result makes it more so. As we debate how to rebuild our great country after the mess left by the Conservatives, many of us will have a sense of apprehension today about what the presidential result means for the US—including women and minority groups—as well as for the UK, Europe and the world. Families across the UK will also be worrying about the damage that President Trump and his Administration may do to our economy and our national security, given his record of starting trade wars, undermining NATO and emboldening tyrants such as Putin. None the less, that may well be the context within which we must rebuild Britain.

We Liberal Democrats believe that rebuilding Britain starts with rebuilding our NHS and social care. Never before have I heard so much desperation as at the last general election. The legacy of the last Government was to leave people saying that they could not see a GP or a dentist, and were waiting months for mental health assessments or special educational needs documents. People were asking me on the doorstep whether maybe everything was so broken that it could not be fixed at all, but we Liberal Democrats know that health and social care must be fixed hand in hand. We welcome the Government’s investment in the NHS, but they cannot remain silent on social care—they cannot dismiss it as a second-term issue. Businesses know that people’s productivity plummets when they have to pick up the pieces of a broken social care system.

The hon. Lady makes absolutely the right point about the NHS and its interdependence with social care, but the Government have done more than be silent on social care: through the minimum wage and the NICs, they have imposed £2.5 billion of additional costs on social care while giving just £600 million to local authorities. They are taking an already difficult situation and making it rather worse.

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for making that point. He may remember that at Deputy Prime Minister’s questions two weeks ago, I raised precisely that point with the Deputy Prime Minister and advised the Government that if they went ahead with the rise in national insurance contributions, it would affect social care. The right hon. Gentleman will, however, remember that it was the Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson who stood on the steps of Downing Street in 2019 and promised to reform social care “once and for all”, but clearly failed to do so.

Two managing partners from GP practices in my constituency have written to me about the significant impact of the increase in employer NI contributions, which they say will directly undermine access and patient care. They will also have a huge impact on the brilliant work of Princess Alice hospice in my constituency, which is already hugely stretched—it will cost that hospice £400,000 a year. Does my hon. Friend agree that that hospice and those GP practices should be exempt?

I thank my hon. Friend for that excellent intervention. I absolutely agree that they should be exempt; I think the rise in national insurance contributions is the wrong thing to do, full stop, but if it is going to go ahead, there must be exemptions. In my own area, for example, one local hospice in Hertfordshire will see its national insurance contributions go up by £150,000. Its warning is very clear: that if this rise goes ahead, beds will have to close.

People must see opportunities in enterprise as well, but the rise in national insurance contributions will hit small businesses hard, especially those on the high street. The success of our high streets really matters, not just for growth but for confidence: for so many people, the high street is the most visual and visceral mark of whether or not the economy is thriving. I would be grateful if the Minister could indicate later today whether the Government intend to bring forward a high streets strategy, and if so, when we might see it.

I have been inundated with messages from small businesses on my high street in St Albans. Here are just some of the quotes: one business said that

“the reality of last week’s budget will mean no more investment and no further recruitment as was planned and in all likelihood redundancies.”

Another small business said:

“I provide employment locally, raise money for local charities and have created a much-loved addition to our town centre…I am worried about how much longer I can go on.”

One business said that it

“would be impacted mainly with our business rates increase and my plea is that that can’t happen. The high street challenges are hard enough as they are”

without having to face

“an uncertain Christmas trading period.”

Other colleagues have mentioned the impact on medical charities, hospices and GPs. In Hertfordshire, the local medical committee said:

“Since 2014 we have seen 56 practices close or merge across Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, representing 35% of the 216 practices that existed back in 2014.”

GP practices need certainty as to whether any of these costs will be passed on to them at a time when they are already feeling the squeeze. I can guess what the Minister may say: he may encourage Members on the Opposition Benches to indicate how we would raise taxes instead. In the spirit of constructive opposition, we Liberal Democrats urge the Government to think again, because we believe the burden of fixing our public services should fall on the shoulders of the big banks, the gambling companies and the big tech companies, not the small businesses that are the beating heart of our communities. Suppressing small business is not the route to growth.

The business rates reforms in the Budget not only fall short of what we need, but actually make things worse in the short term. The last Conservative Government promised to reform the business rates system, but failed to do so. The current system penalises bricks-and-mortar retailers, while out-of-town retailers manage to get off almost scot- free. Pubs, high street shops and the rest of the hospitality sector have been hit really hard, with the discount being reduced from 75% to 40%. That is going to have a major impact. St Albans is renowned for its pubs—as many of the more long-established Members will remember, I talk about the pubs in St Albans on many occasions. We have more pubs per square mile than anywhere else in the UK, but those pubs will now face additional business rates bills of between £5,000 and £35,000. Some fear that this could push them over the edge.

Over the past few days, much has been said about food security as well. We Liberal Democrats agree that the loopholes that are being exploited by big corporations that buy up swathes of our land must be closed, but we are concerned that the Government’s approach is rather crude—that as they try to close those loopholes, some family farms will be collateral damage. Again in the spirit of constructive opposition, I encourage the Government to look again at our proposal for a proper family farming test, as is used in some other countries.

Finally, I will say a word or two about investment. We Liberal Democrats believe that the Government have done the right thing in changing the fiscal rules, and in principle, we believe in the importance of borrowing for productive investment. However—once again, I say this in the spirit of constructive opposition—I think the Government have put all of their growth eggs in the building back basket. I understand why they may be doing that. However, given the Trump presidency and the prospects of potential tariffs and trade wars that could drive up the price of products such as semiconductors and construction materials, there is a very real risk that the investment that the Government make will not reap the rewards that we all hope for—through changes in the global climate, rather than any fault of their own. We need a resilient economy, so I praise the Government for investing, but urge them to look at the question of resilience. At this time, it is even more important that we look to small businesses and high streets for growth, so I urge the Government to think again and unleash the power of our high streets and small businesses, rather than hamper them.

I call Irene Campbell to make her maiden speech.

Many thanks, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling me to give my maiden speech in such an important debate. It was great to see a Budget delivered by a female Chancellor, the first one ever in this Parliament, and a Budget delivering the largest funding settlement for Scotland in the history of devolution.

I am delighted to be here today as the Member of Parliament for North Ayrshire and Arran, my home constituency, and I am honoured that people put their faith in me and voted for me to be their MP. I thank my family and friends for their support, which was greatly appreciated.

I pay my respects to my predecessor Patricia Gibson for her work in the constituency over the past nine years. Like me, she cares about the community we serve, and I wish her well. I also pay my respects to her staff for their hard work. Staff often go unrecognised, but they play a vital part in delivering for our communities.

I first got interested in politics at a very young age. One of our neighbours, David Lambie, was the hon. Member for Central Ayrshire from 1970 until 1983 and was very active in the area. That was my introduction to politics and to this place. I was fascinated by what was going on and how it all worked. I remember being in the Gallery to see Prime Minister’s questions in the 1980s; I still cannot quite believe that I am now here sitting on the green Benches.

North Ayrshire and Arran is a mix of towns—many of them post-industrial—villages, rural and island communities. It has the best of both the countryside and the seaside, with two beautiful islands, but I will say more about that later. I have lived in the constituency for most of my life, although I started my working life in London in the 1980s. Jobs were scarce at that time in North Ayrshire and many other parts of Britain. Some may remember that unemployment was very high and to get a job people moved to cities. I arrived in London an enthusiastic young punk and not only got a job that I loved, but got to see a lot of bands, go to great art exhibitions, make some lifetime friends and generally have a great time, as most young people do. I would not have expected that years later I would be back in London where I started my career—I am no longer a punk, as you can see, but hopefully I still have the attitude.

Coming back to my constituency, I must mention a very famous resident, Alfred Nobel. In the 1860s he identified a site in the town of Stevenston on the Ardeer peninsula to build his explosives factory. At one time it was the largest explosives factory in the world and in its heyday it employed around 15,000 people, mainly locals. Nobel lived locally during the start of the project, and my great-grandmother Clara came over from Sweden to work for the Nobel family. She never left Stevenston, as she met my great-grandfather and stayed, so I am obviously very grateful.

North Ayrshire and Arran is a diverse constituency with the towns of Kilwinning, Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Stevenston making up a post-industrial landscape along with the Garnock valley, comprising the towns of Dalry, Beith, Kilbirnie, Glengarnock and the villages of Gateside and Barmill. The famous Glengarnock steelworks opened in the 1840s and operated until the 1970s. The north coast is made up of small, pretty coastal towns, with the villages of Seamill, West Kilbride, which is often referred to as a craft town, Portencross, Fairlie, Largs and Skelmorlie, and of course we have the wonderful and beautiful islands of Arran and Cumbrae.

To give a little bit of history, North Ayrshire and Arran has many ancient castles and monuments, from the medieval abbey in Kilwinning to castles in Ardrossan, Portencross, Glengarnock, Kersland, Dalry and many more, and the ancient Machrie Moor standing stones on Arran. The town of Largs is famous for the Viking battle in 1263 and hosts an annual Viking festival. These historical sites attract many visitors, and tourism is important to our local communities, particularly our island communities.

I must mention some famous residents, past and president—[Interruption.] Forgive me—I meant to say “present”. That is a Freudian slip on 6 November! Betsy Miller from Saltcoats was the first woman to be registered as the master of a ship and was apparently mentioned in this House during a debate on the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act 1834. Henry Faulds from Beith, a Scottish doctor and scientist, was noted for the development of fingerprinting. Moving on to the present day, from Saltcoats we have Steve Clarke, the Scotland football manager, and Colin Hay, singer and musician from the Australian band Men at Work—who incidentally did not come from “a land down under”, but from Saltcoats. We have classical violinist Nicola Benedetti from West Kilbride, Olympic athlete Jemma Reekie from Beith and musicians and songwriters Gallagher and Lyle from Largs.

There are many community organisations and projects working hard in the constituency, including North Ayrshire Women’s Aid, where I served on the board for many years and was chair. The service provides crucial support for women and children. There are also Men’s Sheds throughout the constituency, as I think there are throughout the whole UK, doing great work promoting mental health and general wellbeing. The 1st Alliance Credit Union in Kilwinning ensures that local people can save and access affordable loans. In Kilbirnie there is the Radio City Association, working hard to bring community energy and the associated benefits. We also have the award-winning SeaSalt Streets group in Saltcoats, helping to improve the town centre, and I must pay tribute to the Save Ardrossan Harbour group, fighting hard to save the Ardrossan to Brodick ferry route, which has been in existence for around 190 years. There are many more I could mention.

Finally, I come to my home town of Saltcoats, where I have lived for most of my life. Saltcoats is a small seaside town on the Firth of Clyde. It was a great place to grow up, with plenty for children to do. One feature that I must mention is the great outdoor swimming pool, built in the 1930s, which had a beautiful art deco pavilion that would not have been out of place in the Cote d’Azur—although certainly did not have its weather. The pool welcomed many visitors from Glasgow and beyond and was very busy all through the summer, despite the fact that it was freezing cold and sometimes people would be swimming next to a jellyfish or an eel—that was all part of the experience. I learned to swim in the pool at a young age and have very fond memories of it.

Sadly, the beautiful art deco pavilion was demolished in the 1980s, but the swimming pool remains. During covid, I started a campaign with other local enthusiasts to revive and reopen the pool. We call ourselves the Splash group and we are linked with the UK Future Lidos group, which comprises other lido enthusiasts aiming to build lidos or to reopen existing ones throughout the UK and Ireland. Outdoor swimming has never been so popular and now is definitely the time to do it. It is good for both physical and mental health and wellbeing, and the pool would offer a safe outdoor space for swimmers. The Splash group has been working with London architect Chris Romer-Lee and we have a visionary 21st-century design for our pool. It would be a fantastic asset for Saltcoats and the wider North Ayrshire community.

I have given the House a tour of my constituency. I am in this place to serve my community and my aim during this Parliament is to bring improvement and investment and to work hard to make positive change to the lives of people in North Ayrshire and Arran.

I start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Arundel and South Downs (Andrew Griffith) on his role as shadow Secretary of State. I know what a distinguished career he has had in business and how eminently qualified he is for this role. I also enjoyed listening to the Secretary of State; I know he is a very intelligent man and I know by reputation what a decent man he is, but while I was sitting in the Chamber I looked up on Wikipedia what his business experience is and what qualifies him for his role. I am sorry to report that he has about as much business experience as I do, which is precisely none.

I spent my career before my election working in Parliament and in the charity sector—you could mistake me for a Labour MP, Madam Deputy Speaker; I am almost indistinguishable from them and easily mistaken for one. However, I will do my best to disabuse them of that false impression by saying what a very shameful thing it is that the Labour party allowed the public to be so misled in the run-up to the last election. Labour promised not to raise taxes, not to increase borrowing or to change the borrowing rules and certainly not to impose inheritance tax on family farms. All those things they have done in this Budget, and it is a shameful thing.

Leaving aside whether these measures are good or bad for the country, leaving aside the erroneous idea that suddenly Labour understood the public finances after they got into government, when they did not understand them before—even though before the party got into government it said it knew exactly what was in the public finances, and of course it did, because that is what the OBR enables—the fact is that Labour understandably stressed in the run-up to the election that they were standing on a platform of probity, integrity and trust. Those were the words used repeatedly in their election campaigns, and the public responded to that.

In so far as it is possible to say that Labour won public support at the election—of course it did not really; we just lost it—it was on the grounds that—[Interruption.] Labour Members ask why we lost it. We lost it because the public could not trust us and they did not think we had integrity. I know that. I am not stupid. We understand what the public thought and I am not going to disabuse them, but Labour promised to be different, and in this Budget they have absolutely broken their promises on integrity and trust. This is a day of shame for the party after what they have done with this Budget.

In a less partisan spirit, there is much to critique about the economy that the Labour party inherited when it came into government. I recognise that there were things wrong with our economy and deep structural problems. They go back decades—a lot longer than 14 years. In so far as it is possible to critique the Conservative party for failures, those happened for very understandable reasons—not least because of the deficit and the broken economy that we had inherited 14 years previously, as well as other events that took place during our time in power. Our failure was that we did not fix those fundamental structural problems with the economy that we inherited. Those problems were to do with a high-tax, high-borrowing economy that had high levels of public debt caused by high welfare, high and preventable health spending, high rates of private debt, low productivity and low wages. Those are the underlying structural realities of the British economy going back decades; they are the reality of this century so far. It is therefore right that the Chancellor talks often about fixing the foundations. I welcome that because it is absolutely the right framework within which to approach the challenge that the new Government faces on the economy.

The problem is that the Government are leaning into the broken model that we have. They are further damaging the foundations of our economy, which need to be fixed, by pursuing more borrowing, more tax and spend and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Arundel and South Downs said from the Front Bench a little while ago, a plan that will not lead to greater growth in the economy over this Parliament, with only minuscule improvements if the forecasts are correct.

Nevertheless, in the spirit of cross-party consensus, let me hope that we can fix the foundations of the economy, because we do need to fix them. What are those foundations? Classically understood, the foundations of prosperity—the foundations of any economy—are land, labour and capital. Let me look at each briefly in turn.

The fundamental reality of our land economy is the planning system. Work done in the think-tank world by Southwood, Hughes and Bowman called “Foundations” —that is absolutely the right framing—shows that it is impossible to build things in this country, to build them quickly and to build them in the right places. Yes, we need new housing urgently, and I recognise and applaud the Government’s commitment on that, but their approach is entirely wrong. They propose to build houses where they are not needed and not wanted—on our green fields—instead of where they are urgently needed and very much wanted, which is in our cities.

What we need all across the country, including in rural areas such as the one I represent in east Wiltshire, is more business space. We need space for industrial use, and we need office space. We urgently need to enable our entrepreneurs to create businesses and to grow them in the places where they want to do that. I am very conscious of the challenge we have in Wiltshire with the lack of affordable and available land for business.

Like others, I should also quickly mention the absolute crime of proposing to tax family farms and to insist that farmers sell up when farms are passing from one generation to the next. That is another flagrant abuse of trust by this Government.

The second foundation is the labour market. I have not heard the Government address this so far in the Budget or in this Budget debate, but the crucial challenge for our economy is that it is so dependent on high rates of low-skilled migration, which depresses wages, increases welfare and inhibits productivity—crucially, because it disincentivises employers from investing in people, in machinery or in technology that boosts growth and productivity. We have to cap migration and shift spending into the skills economy and into our own people to support them to gain the skills they need in order to do the jobs that need doing.

The third foundation is capital itself. We have heard a lot from Ministers about the need for investment, but what they mean is public investment and public spending. What is fundamentally needed is private investment, but we hear nothing about that and do not see much sign of it. We have a broken capital market. Again, I recognise that a lot of this goes back many years—to well before this Government—but it is difficult for businesses to find the capital they need to start and, crucially, to scale. All the incentives are towards rushing to private equity or to an initial public offering and cashing out as soon as possible. We heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman) during Prime Minister’s questions earlier about the failure of the London capital market to direct capital into UK businesses. That is a perennial challenge with our finance sector, and it needs addressing.

I echo the point made by the Liberal Democrat spokesman, the hon. Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper), who was absolutely right about the importance of investing in UK resilience. We need money—crucially, private money—to go into small and medium-sized enterprises and the key growth sectors that will be needed in the turbulent times to come. We need to use the incentives in the tax and regulation systems to direct finance towards British businesses. Crucially, we also need to make British businesses more competitive.

That brings me to the national insurance increase. This huge jobs tax has been imposed on the country with no warning and, in fact, in direct breach of promises made by the Labour party.

As a business owner who is pleased to see more money in the pockets of not just my team but my customers, can I ask the hon. Member whether he agrees that the Conservatives are very good with their own money, but absolutely appalling with the country’s finances?

I am delighted to hear that there is, in fact, a businessman on the Labour Benches; that is tremendous, and I hope that he and his business prosper under the Government that he is supporting. The fact is that the OBR itself said in its commentary on the Budget that payroll tax rises are “passed through” into lower wages. The direct effect is that the Government are taxing workers to fund their spending commitments. Those spending commitments go partly towards what they call investment capital projects, but also towards public services’ running costs. As we have heard today, the bulk of that money will be front-loaded at the start of this Parliament, in what one would have thought was direct contravention of good fiscal management. However, more importantly and more worryingly, as we heard, the effect will be largely circular, because the additional spending will simply be taken in tax through the NIC increases.

On behalf of my constituents, I would quickly add that the one spending area where I have particular regrets is the cutting of the transport budget. The Government talk about increasing investment in the public sector, but they have cut the transport budget overall and, particularly to the regret of constituents in Wiltshire, scrapped the plan to upgrade the A303 and divert all that horrendous traffic around Stonehenge. I deeply regret that, and I am sorry that we have yet to hear any plans from the Department for Transport or the Treasury to alleviate our chronic traffic problems.

Let me finish by saying how much I regret the missed opportunities that this Budget represents. We need growth and productivity, which, fundamentally, will come only from the private sector. We need to see more savings in the public sector, so that we can fund proper deficit reduction, but we are not going to see that. We also need meaningful tax cuts, so that we can get the economy going. One area where we urgently need more spending is defence, which is the one area we really have not heard about. When will we hear about the timetable to get to 2.5%?

Order. There will have to be a time limit, but after we have heard all the maiden speeches. I call David Williams to make his maiden speech.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am really pleased to follow the excellent maiden speech by my hon. Friend the Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell), and I look forward to many more such speeches as the afternoon goes on.

It is an absolute honour to represent Stoke-on-Trent North and Kidsgrove, an area that has made me who I am. I am also proud to speak in this incredibly important debate. This Government take seriously the need to boost household incomes and to lift families out of poverty. I am delighted that the increase in the national living wage outlined in the Budget will put an extra £1,400 in the pockets of thousands of workers across Stoke-on-Trent and Kidsgrove.

In memory of Sharlotte-Sky Naglis, I would like to thank my predecessor, Jonathan Gullis, who campaigned to change the law to allow blood samples to be tested without consent where loss of life has occurred following dangerous driving. I said to Sharlotte’s mum last week, “I will continue to fight for this critical legislation, though I know nothing can make up for the loss of your child.”

I will also say thank you to Baroness Anderson, who put the national scandal of holiday hunger firmly on the radar during her time in this House. So many children up and down our country are now fed during school holidays.

I did not set out to become an MP. After studying at Keele University—one of our two great local universities—I worked in a local Sure Start centre. I saw how mums had been let down by the state, but I also saw how, with a hand up from the new Labour Government at the time, they were able to get back on their feet. I then worked for the YMCA, where we set up training schemes, secured funding to reopen youth clubs that were closed under austerity, and supported young people into affordable housing.

However, 14 years of Conservative Government left our services on their knees and levelling up was a failed promise. We faced a 97% cut in spending on youth services in my constituency alone. Our Sure Start centres were hollowed out. Annual household incomes have fallen behind rising living costs. Indeed, in some areas of my constituency as many as two thirds of families live in poverty and weekly earnings are some £100 lower than the England average.

I put myself forward to be an MP to break this cycle of broken promises. Our young people locally should not feel they need to move away for well-paid work. I want our families to live in affordable, decent homes, and I want high-quality care for everyone who needs it—real investment, high-quality public services, restoring hope to our people.

My dad once told me, “People like us don’t become MPs.” While, thankfully, he was wrong, because I am here today, many people still believe that where we are born will forever dictate our life’s direction. That is why I am a member of the Labour party, because we believe that everybody, no matter where they are from, should have equal access to opportunities.

I am incredibly proud of my background. My mum and my grandad worked in our local potbanks—H&R Johnson, Richard Tiles and Dunn Bennett and Co. My mum and dad met in the old Adulte ballroom in Burslem. My weekends as a child were spent at Burslem and Tunstall markets, playing out in Tunstall park—after mass, of course—and doing our weekly shop in the Normid hypermarket in Talke Pits. Having worked locally for over 20 years, I know how blessed we are to have so many local people, charities, businesses and faith groups that provide vital support to our community. Whether it is the Chell Area Family Action Group, Middleport Matters, the Hubb Foundation or excellent community organisers like June Cartwright, Anne Marie and Colin, or Mark Porter, I am so grateful for the contributions they make to our towns.

Our history is one of hard-working people, from the potters and the miners, who powered us through the industrial revolution, to the public sector workers who care for us and the business owners who create opportunities for our community. Our history is forged by our people, who have contributed enormously to our local economy and the success of our country: Reginald Mitchell, from Butt Lane, the engineer behind the Spitfire, which helped lead us to victory in the second world war; Clarice Cliff, a pioneering potter who took on a male-dominated industry to make a name for herself; and A. R. Wood, our best-known architect, who created some of our most beautiful buildings including the Burslem school of art and the Queen’s theatre.

These buildings, and our many other historical sites, are ready to have new life breathed into them. We need new spaces for small businesses and new homes for our families, and I want to see our history build our future. In my constituency, we are proud of our past and ambitious for our future, and I know that ambition will be matched by our new Labour Government.

Traces of our proud history can be found in our bottle kilns; whether Moorcroft Pottery in Cobridge or Moorland Pottery in Burslem, it fills me with pride to see the flames of our history continue to burn in these modern times. And I am part of what we call “the turnover club”, and I have attracted some bemused looks as I walk around the cafés in Westminster and lift each plate, bowl and saucer to see where it was crafted; I am pleased to see that so many were made at the Steelite factory in Burslem or at Churchill in Sandyford. I am so proud that my constituency continues to lead the way in ceramics production.

Finally, I would like to pay tribute to my friend and predecessor, Joan Walley, who represented Stoke-on-Trent North for 37 years. Joan truly embodies what it means to be a good constituency MP. In her maiden speech she spoke eloquently about the quality of housing. Her fight for improved living standards continues to this day, and I am incredibly proud to be a part of a Labour Government who have delivered their commitment to working people through their first Budget in 14 years.

I call Charlotte Cane to make her maiden speech.

I want to thank those who elected me as the first MP for the new Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency, although I follow in the Liberal footsteps of Clement Freud and others before him. I congratulate the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell) on making her first speech to this House; her constituency sounds almost, but not quite, as beautiful as mine. I also congratulate the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (David Williams) on his first speech. My mum is a member of “the turnover club” and I became an honorary member when I came to this House because I felt I needed to check the saucers so that I could report back to her; so I understand where the hon. Gentleman is coming from.

Ely and East Cambridgeshire contains part of the old North East Cambridgeshire constituency and most of South East Cambridgeshire. I thank the right hon. Member for North East Cambridgeshire (Steve Barclay) for being so helpful in passing over casework from constituents, and I thank Lucy Frazer KC for representing South East Cambridgeshire, and in particular for supporting the much-needed upgrade to Ely rail junction. I was disappointed to hear nothing about funding for that in the Budget. We all want economic growth for this country, and the Government need to help us fix Ely junction if we are to get freight to and from the ports and allow us to have that growth. I am a chartered accountant, so I know that the business case is unanswerable and I urge the Chancellor to put the funding for the Ely junction upgrade in the spring spending review.

My constituents have a range of occupations: we have farmers, we have people in horseracing, and we have cutting-edge technology. Going back to the comments of the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent North, I was amazed to be invited to accompany Almath Crucibles to receive the King’s award for innovation—people have been making crucibles for 8,000 years, yet it has come up with an innovation, which, as an archaeologist, I found utterly amazing. I was also amazed to look at how they make those crucibles in my constituency; they make them with fantastic materials, but they do so in a way that our parents would recognise from the pottery industry. It is stunning.

We are also a beautiful constituency, with an amazing natural environment. We have chalk grasslands, wetland peat and the River Great Ouse running through it all. Over the centuries, people have added things: ditches, dykes and lodes that help control the water in the fens; and the Devil’s dyke, which runs from my home village of Reach through to Woodditton, a beautiful, probably late Saxon earthwork and a chalk grassland. Watching over all that, we have the “ship of the fens”, which many say is one of the best cathedrals in Europe. Personally, I think it is the best but I would not claim to be an expert in cathedrals.

The National Trust is doing a lot of work near me with Wicken fen, as it has a vision to enlarge the wetland peat area to protect the biodiversity that depends on it and, as we heard in an earlier debate, capture the carbon that is within. I was lucky enough to visit recently, and was promised that we might see a kingfisher. We did indeed see that beautiful kingfisher going back and forth across the river. It was fantastic.

However, there are some downsides to my constituency. It is very expensive to buy or rent a home, which is pricing out young people and families. The median price of a house in my constituency is 11 times the average salary, and the rental market follows on from that, basically. It is unaffordable for many people. On top of that, a lot of our affordable housing is badly insulated, and people rely on oil for their heating. Across my constituency, there are families who cannot afford to heat their homes. As the Government are rebuilding Britain, which I hope that we can do, they should ensure that homes are built that are affordable for people to live in—not just homes that have an affordable price or rent but that are energy-efficient so that they are cheap to run. We must also ensure that we have the infrastructure and support around those homes, whether that is doctors, dentists, schools, green space or water. We need to have all those things.

On the subject of dentists, Ely and East Cambridgeshire is a dental desert. I am horrified to say that people cannot get on an NHS dental list in my constituency. That has to change. I have met people who have spent their life savings on dental treatment or people who, for heaven’s sake, have done it themselves. It is horrendous and we have to address it.

My great-grandfather grew up in the workhouse around Stoke-on-Trent. My parents were the first people in their families to go to university, and they always brought me up to believe that I could do anything I wanted as long as I worked hard on it. I first stood for Parliament in 1987, and mum and dad helped me with that campaign. Sadly, my dad died a few years ago, but my mum supported my election campaign this year, and I know that dad would have been really pleased to see me elected to this House, just as mum was.

I now have to correct an error I made on election night. I did not expect to win, so I had not written a victory speech. I remembered most of the people I had to thank but, as my husband and my children have repeatedly reminded me since, I forgot to thank them, so I am delighted to put on record, and in Hansard no less, my thanks to my husband, Jon, and my children, David and Kathryn, for their unswerving support and encouragement. This might sound a bit odd, but I also need to thank Fosters mill, which is a 19th-century windmill in Swaffham Prior that is still going strong. Its Prior’s oats fuelled my campaign and now give me a breakfast boost each morning to get me through the day. I have to thank my agent Lorna Dupré for running a wonderful campaign and all my campaign team for delivering leaflets and doing all the canvassing. Most of all, I want to thank the people of Ely and East Cambridgeshire for engaging in the conversations and putting their trust in me to be their MP. I will do my utmost to make sure that their voices are heard in this House. I will also try to be the very best local MP possible.

There will be a three-minute time limit after the next speaker. I call Michelle Welsh to make her maiden speech.

To stand here is such an honour, in a place that is bestowed with such history, and that honour has been bestowed on me by the good people of my constituency of Sherwood Forest. I wish to pay tribute to my predecessor, the right hon. Sir Mark Spencer, who served the constituency of Sherwood for 14 years. Born and raised locally, he was very proud to be the MP.

When I tell people I am the Member of Parliament for Sherwood Forest, most think of Robin Hood and what a legend he is. Many have tried to claim him, but we all know that Robin Hood really belongs to Nottinghamshire. However, Sherwood Forest is so much more than Robin Hood. It was a beating heart of our coal industry, and it was the place where the first vertical flight took place and where engines for planes were built and tested for our war efforts in the second world war. Sherwood Forest is Lord Byron, it is Ada Lovelace, it is our farms, villages, our towns, and most importantly, it is our people. The communities of Sherwood Forest are kind people. They are strong, they are proud, and they tell you exactly how they feel. To be their MP is an absolute honour.

I was raised on a council estate in Nottinghamshire in the 1980s—hard to believe, I know. I saw poverty every single day in my community. I looked it in the eye. I saw social injustice, and I saw a system that not only took away an industry, but did its very best to break working people. It was those experiences growing up that have brought me here today to be a voice for the most vulnerable and to stand up when it counts. I start from the premise that where someone is born should not determine their future.

As the first woman, and the first working-class woman, to be the Labour Member of Parliament for Sherwood Forest, I thought I had smashed a glass ceiling, but the truth is I have merely cracked a porch window. The battles that my mum and her fellow sisters were fighting all those years ago for equality, for better services and for health services for women still exist. As the Member of Parliament for Sherwood Forest, I will be fighting those battles so that every girl or woman and every working-class child knows that they can, and they will.

My son was born in the first week of the very first lockdown. The care that we had at the hands of maternity services was far from the standards that any mother should expect. The trauma of what happened to me has not left me, but it is that very trauma and the strength and courage of my precious son that have driven me to campaign for better maternity services. We were one of the lucky ones; my partner and I left the hospital with our son, but many families in Nottinghamshire did not. That is why I will continue to support the 2,000-plus families in Nottinghamshire who are part of the biggest maternity review in NHS history. It is why I will work alongside the trust and organisations to improve maternity services and to ensure that those families in Nottinghamshire get the answers they need and deserve.

I went to school in the ’80s—again, hard to believe, I know—and early ’90s, in an era of leaky buildings, not enough textbooks and not enough paper to write on. I then worked in education under the previous Labour Government, an era of different educational pathways, high-quality work experience, the education maintenance allowance and a national careers service. I remain so proud of the work that I did in establishing Sure Start, on the No Child Left Behind campaign, on tackling child poverty and on raising standards. I am proud to be part of a Labour Government who are transforming education once again and giving back the life chances to so many children living in Sherwood Forest.

Health inequalities in Sherwood Forest are stark. Those living in the south of Nottinghamshire live on average seven and a half years longer than those who live in the north of my constituency. We must do more to combat this. Early diagnosis, prevention and healthcare in the community are absolutely vital.

Sherwood Forest is a rich tapestry of people and organisations helping each other, from the carers’ support group in Hucknall to In Sam’s Name in Ollerton. Sherwood Forest knows, through its history, how to stand shoulder to shoulder. I am proud of the businesses in my constituency that employ local people, including J. Murphy & Sons, founded in 1951, a global specialist engineering and construction company with over 3,500 employees. It is clear to me that we are a Government of business, and I will do everything I can to bring investment into my constituency and to support our local economy.

My journey to this place speaks to the values and morals of my mother and father—the ones they instilled in me through the endless overtime they worked—the times that they went without so that I and my brother would not, their endless backing, and the absolute faith they placed in me. My journey speaks to my courageous son, who already in his four and a half years has been through so much, and the commitment and support from my unwavering partner. My journey here speaks to every child who thinks that they do not belong in the corridors of this building, or in this Chamber, because of where they come from. My politics is a politics of service, and that is what I will do: serve the people of Sherwood Forest.

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in the Budget debate. I congratulate the hon. Member for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh) on making her maiden speech, and wish her well.

Last Wednesday, we sat in this Chamber to listen to the Chancellor’s Budget of broken promises, and as each day has gone by, we have witnessed the mask slip from this Labour Government. Even before the Budget, we saw the Chancellor start to set out her stall with the callous cutting of the winter fuel allowance, and just this week Labour has attacked students with a monumental hike in tuition fees—a tax on aspiration and on young people and their hard-working families. As the week has gone by, we have seen the Budget unravel as manifesto promise after promise has been broken. I have constituents —from pensioners and farmers to businesses, charities, community organisations, GPs and many more—coming to me with anxiety and worries.

My local farmers are devastated. Promises made to them have been broken with no consultation, giving them no opportunity to plan. The Government have shown that they are no friend of the farmer, the producer of our food and the guardian of our countryside. Farmers have gone from food heroes during covid to being abandoned in the cold. The Government seem to have failed to grasp that family farms are not only farms; they are much more. Family farmers invest in their businesses for the long term, for the next generation. The Government need to keep their promises, reverse the changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief, and abolish what I and others now term the family farm tax.

I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said that honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the way that this Government are serially breaking all the promises they made during the election is corrosive for our politics?

Absolutely. Small businesses also face a tax on aspiration and entrepreneurship. Inheritance tax will be the death of enterprise. The increases to employer national insurance and the minimum wage will stymie growth and investment. Inflation looks set to be higher than growth under the Chancellor’s measures. In fact, far from this being a Budget for growth, the measures set out by the Chancellor will be a hindrance.

If we put all this together, who does it hit? Working people. Even the Chief Secretary to the Treasury admitted that on TV. Think, too, of the jobs for working people that will be lost, or never even created, thanks to the Budget of broken promises. This is a Budget that punishes pensioners, destroys our countryside, chases after our motorists, denies working families and their children choice over education, and saddles young people with more student debt. It is a Budget about ever-increasing spending, ever-higher taxes and an ever-expanding state. Prosperity has never been the result of the state handing out more taxpayer money; it has come from empowering businesses, entrepreneurs and families, and it is about enabling opportunity.

Once upon a time, Labour would have been thought of as the party of working people, but not now. Far from fixing the foundations, it is digging an even bigger hole.

What a privilege it is to follow so many accomplished and particularly moving maiden speeches. I start by congratulating my right hon. Friend the Chancellor on her first Budget. It shows the first steps of this new Labour Government as the work of change really begins. I hope that it will mark a turning point from decline to investment, from instability to security and from self-interest to public service. The choices made in the Budget certainly turn the page on the last 14 years. They begin to restore our public services and improve the rights and rewards of low and middle-income earners.

In the short time that I have, I want to touch on three areas of particular concern to my constituents. First, I welcome the £25 billion-plus of investment to get our national health service back on its feet, cut waiting times and deliver 40,000 extra elective appointments a week. That move will give real hope to people worrying about their healthcare. It recognises our NHS staff across the service, such as those at Aintree university hospital in my constituency and in specialist facilities like the Walton centre.

Will the hon. Member give way?

I will not. I also welcome the intention to shift the focus to prevention in healthcare. My constituency is one of the most deprived in the UK, and far too many suffer the health impacts of poverty, addiction and despair. I hope to work with the Government to address those long-term public health crises.

Next, and crucially, the Budget delivers some long overdue justice and fairness for those who have been failed by the state. It will transfer the investment reserve fund in the mineworkers’ pension scheme to its members, and will fund compensation schemes for the victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal and the infected blood scandal, including a number of my constituents. It gives me hope that the Government have shown a commendable will to right historical wrongs. I hope that in the months and years ahead, the Chancellor will also consider the claim of the Women Against State Pension Inequality—women born in the 1950s, including 5,000 in my Liverpool Walton constituency.

Finally, I want to mention the hospitality industry, which is central to Liverpool’s visitor economy. The 40% relief on business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure is welcome, but with costs continuing to rise, there remains a climate of uncertainty for far too many local businesses. We need to level the playing field between bricks-and-mortar businesses and the online global giants, and we need to prioritise our high streets and take the necessary steps to give relief to local businesses.

I call Dame Caroline Dinenage.

You will know, Madam Deputy Speaker, that the Gosport constituency is a community built around a shared history of service in and for our armed forces. Thirteen per cent of my constituents are veterans. Those are good, hard-working people who have served our country and asked for little in return, but they are not wealthy people. They are disproportionately impacted by the Budget, which delivers the opposite of the growth we were promised: it delivers taxes and cuts that will leave my constituents disproportionately poorer. It started with the baffling decision to cut winter fuel payments. Many of my constituents exist just outside the pension credit threshold and are hanging on by their fingertips. The Government’s own data suggests that 13,000 of them will lose that lifeline through the cold winter months. Age UK says that it will be 5,000 more than that, which will be 91% of pensioners in Gosport.

I have real concern for the health of older people in Gosport during these winter months. That concern extends to the future of some of our most important businesses: the care homes and nurseries who do such vital work and employ so many of our constituents. At this stage, I must direct the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Those organisations are seriously impacted by the triple whammy of minimum wage increases, employer national insurance threshold decreases and contribution increases.

Hopscotch nursery in my constituency told me that the £25 billion tax increase will impact businesses that employ a high number of low-wage workers. It estimates that the changes will add almost £1 million in costs to their businesses. That cannot be alleviated by productivity increases or headcount reductions, because childcare ratios are set by the Government. The services to which we entrust our most precious and loved family members rely on face-to-face care and human interaction, so the extra costs facing childcare and adult social care services will be borne by their customers—working parents and the vulnerable elderly—and by employees through lower wage growth.

My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech. It is good to see the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in his place. I hope he will take on board these arguments, and perhaps the overall settlement can be reworked to minimise the negative impacts that my hon. Friend outlines.

I agree. I would love to see something done to exempt the childcare and adult social care sectors in particular from the policy.

The Budget also threatens many organisations that are central to the regeneration of our communities. I welcome the fact that the cliff edge for business rate relief for hospitality, leisure and retail has been reduced, but what the Chancellor gave with one hand she took away with the other, because hospitality venues can now expect to see their costs increase by £3 billion. In my constituency, that will potentially cripple 146 businesses, which employ around 2,000 people.

While Ministers talk about the value of our creative industries, tourism and hospitality, they are ignoring their fragile state. The chief executive officer of the Sound and Music charity has said that the measures will impose an extra £7 million in additional taxes on the grassroots live music sector. The Music Venue Trust estimates that, without additional support, 10% of remaining venues will see their doors close. That is up to 120 venues, 4,000 jobs and 25,000 performances opportunities all lost.

As well as being a Budget of broken promises, I suspect that this will become known as a Budget of unintended consequences. The decisions that the Chancellor has taken will have real, tangible impacts on the community and those across the country. Not only that, but we are saddling future generations with billions of pounds of debt to pay for it.

Let me start by congratulating the Members who have made their maiden speech this afternoon: my hon. Friends the Members for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell), for Stoke-on-Trent North (David Williams), for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh), and for Ely and East Cambridgeshire (Charlotte Cane) made the first of many brilliant, I am sure, contributions to this House.

It is a pleasure to speak in today’s debate in support of the Budget presented last week. It was historic: the first delivered by a Labour Chancellor in 14 years; the first delivered by a female Chancellor, and, just as importantly, the first delivered by a Chancellor who went to school in Beckenham and Penge. On behalf of everyone in Beckenham and Penge, I congratulate the Chancellor, and I look forward to taking a signed copy of the Budget to her old school in Penge very soon.

Two fun facts about my constituency are that we have the second biggest percentage of rail commuters in Britain, and the most train stations of any constituency. We are a constituency of commuters, and the vast majority who board trains every morning go to work in private sector jobs across London. I know that life well, as it is exactly what I did before I was elected as the MP for my constituency this year.

A criticism levelled by Opposition Members is that Labour Members do not understand business. That is simply not true. For the decade before being elected, I worked in the private sector, first at PwC on the graduate scheme and later for two big tech firms. The private sector adds so much value to our country, and I am a passionate advocate of it. Private sector companies are an engine for innovation. They contribute to the economy, help us pay for vital public services and provide high-skilled, well-paid jobs—the sort of jobs that thousands of people in my constituency do, and want their children to do in the future.

In order for business to plan and invest, economic and political stability is vital, and businesses have been starved of that in recent years. We have had six Chancellors in just over three years, and sharp cuts followed by serious increases, and then further planned cuts. Corporation tax went from 28% to 19%, and then to 25%. They said that they were going to build key infrastructure; then they paused it, renamed it, announced it again, but could not tell us how they were going to fund it. They told us that Brexit would solve all our problems, but made a disaster of that too.

This Budget—like this Government, in sharp contrast to the one before—is serious about providing the economic and political stability that businesses in our country need to invest and grow. I am delighted to see investment in vital infrastructure, including Transport for London infrastructure, and a new, co-operative approach to working between my good friend the Transport Secretary and our excellent Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. I have no doubt that that will be of great benefit to my constituents, including the thousands who commute across London each day and the businesses for which they work, and I look forward to supporting it later.

This is a Budget of the public sector, by the public sector, for the public sector. Neither the Chancellor nor the Prime Minister was able to define a “working person” with any clarity in various confused and stumbling attempts. Does the definition include the entrepreneurs who take risks, invest money, employ “working” people, work hard themselves, and collect VAT, national insurance and pension contributions—which they gift-wrap and pay to the state—as well as paying corporation tax on any residual profits? If not, why not?

However, we can now see that that is irrelevant, as the massive increase in employers’ national insurance contributions and the equally venal cut in the payment threshold from £9,000 to £5,000 is a huge tax on employment in the private sector, which, unlike the state, cannot print money in taxpayers’ collective name to cover any budget shortfall. This will mean that the private sector will employ fewer people by design, and will reduce pay rises, increase prices, invest less, and pay less corporation tax. It is a disaster for a Government to hand out taxpayers’ money like confetti, without proper checks and balances, taking hard-working taxpayers for fools. This Budget is only possible because quantitative easing has allowed the state to grow without justification, nurturing the culture of central planning, misguided net zero obsession, and all the elements of collectivism that took a generation to destroy the Soviet Union. The Chancellor has landed a knockout punch on private sector entrepreneurs.

It is not only small businesses that suffer. The farming industry, already in a parlous state, has been further undermined by revised death tax amendments. If a rethink of this lunacy is not forthcoming, the continuity and long-term investment required to provide this over-populated island with a degree of food security will be destroyed by forced sales of land on death. Farming is a tough, vocational career, and the average age of farmers is now over 60. The same is true for family businesses, which are also set to suffer disruptive death taxes. The backbone of Britain’s nation of shopkeepers is being broken by socialist design. As Winston Churchill presciently observed,

“I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”

I thank the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Rupert Lowe) for his speech, but he should know better, because one of his relatives used to be a doctor in my village in the Cotwolds.

I, and the rest of the country, have waited for this Budget for 14 years. I have worked as a GP throughout that time, and I have watched with horror as our NHS has gone from being the best health service in the world—as it was in 2010—to being a service on its knees. For 14 years I have watched the gap between rich and poor grow wider and wider. For 14 years I have watched the fabric of our schools, and the NHS, fall apart. I therefore welcome this Budget. It is a Budget that lifts the curse of low pay and invests in the special educational needs of our children. It is the Budget that will finally compensate those who have been wronged by the infected blood scandal. It is a Budget that will rebuild Britain.

Lifting people out of low pay and making our country more equal is probably the most effective way of preventing ill health and making our population healthier, so what I really welcome in this Budget is the huge amount of funding for the NHS—the biggest amount in 14 years. With that funding, though, need to come reform and an increase in productivity, and I want to outline a few little projects on which we need to concentrate to increase our productivity. On GP access, Dr Tom Sutherland of Dursley practice has—

Will the hon. Member join me in expressing concern about the rise in national insurance contributions and the impact it will have on GP surgeries, including potential closures? GPs in my constituency have been asking me about the impact.

I understand that it will be mitigated through funding. I am not exactly sure how, but I have no doubt—[Interruption.] That is because I have not been informed, but I have no doubt that it will be coped with. I know that this Government will rebuild general practice, just as the Conservative party trashed it and broke the back of it. I am not taking any criticism from any of you about the NHS.

Order. Please be seated. You are not taking any criticism from me. You said “you”. Please do not refer to colleagues as “you”.

Sorry. I did get rather angry there, and I shall not get angry any more.

Let me talk about GP access. We need to get doctors, not receptionists or 111, to perform triage, and we need to start thinking in a different way. We do not want a protocol-driven NHS; what we need is a genuine doctor-patient relationship. We also need to develop neighbourhood—

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Is it a relevant point of order?

It is.

Can the point of order not wait, Mr Stuart?

No, it is relevant here. I wonder whether it is in order for the hon. Gentleman to have been given assurances by the Government that funding will be put in place to mitigate the impact on GPs, because that information has repeatedly been refused to this House. I know, Madam Deputy Speaker that you represent all Back Benchers, like me, in making sure the truth is out.

You can definitely raise that in your contribution later. It is not a point of order for the Chair, but no doubt the Minister and Front Benchers have heard and can respond accordingly.

Dr Opher, you will shortly run out of time, so I would be quick.

Okay. I worked in general practice for 30 years. There is always mitigation for tax changes, and I have no doubt that the Government will look after GPs.

No doubt?

I have no doubt.

I would like to finish my speech, if I may. We need to invest in neighbourhood health centres. In Suffolk, Dr Tim Reed is developing a genuinely holistic service, which will save money and increase productivity in mental health provision and among paramedics. This is something that we need to explore much more.

I spent 48 hours with a loved one in Bristol Royal infirmary’s A&E department, and I saw the huge pressure that it was under. I notice that Dr Simon Laing is using innovative ways of going out with paramedics, keeping patients at home and working with paramedics in his department. That is the type of adaptation we need in the NHS.

This Budget begins the process of transforming the NHS and will reward NHS staff up and down the country, who continue to deliver excellent unscheduled care. We must fix the foundations of care and use the new funding to ensure that more patients are cared for at home. Difficult decisions are being taken, but all of us on both sides of the House want to see the NHS become the best in the world again, and this Budget starts that process.

We know that growth comes from investing in productivity and skills, and I, too, welcome the £22 billion for the NHS. Long-term public investment is essential for the security and stability that the UK needs. However, we heard about the issues relating to employers’ NI contributions, which will hit doctors, dentists, care homes and local hospices, adding a significant amount to their annual cost base per employee.

There is also pressure on voluntary, community and social enterprises. In my district, Teignbridge Community and Voluntary Services tells me that the sector employs some 3% of the local population, who are now all subject to the NI increase. Although it is better than nothing, the business rates reduction from 75% to 40% will disappoint local retail, hospitality and leisure businesses—not forgetting the inheritance tax threat to Devon’s family farms. There is nothing in this Budget for social care, for Devon’s crumbling hospitals or for Devon’s essential transport.

Bank shares are soaring following this Budget. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Liberal Democrat proposal to reverse the Conservative Government’s cut to the big bank levy, raising around £4 billion a year, would mean that we would not need the GP tax, the family farm tax or the winter fuel cut and that we could fund upgrades to the Treliske, Derriford and North Devon hospitals—

Order. This is too long an intervention.

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: there are other ways that this money could have been found. The Liberal Democrats have long been saying that we should be looking to the banks, the big oil companies and the big international tech companies to pay their fair share, and that is where money should be sought.

There is nothing in the Budget for Devon’s essential transport. Last year’s pothole fund was a “drop in the ocean”, according to Devon County Council, and the 50% increase in this Budget still leaves a big hole. Not even mentioned in the Budget is the completion of the Dawlish rail resilience project, which is key to connecting the south-west. Without funding, the design team will soon be redeployed and all the progress to date will be lost. This project will cost millions more if it is not done now, and I urge the Minister to meet us to get it funded. Growth in the economy in Devon and Cornwall is heavily dependent on fast, reliable train services, and we saw what happened with Dawlish.

The Budget also mentioned housing and local government. Until July, I was leader of my district council, and I am proud that the Lib Dem administration started building council homes—the first in 30 years. They were cheap to rent and cheap to heat because they were well insulated and powered by air source heat pumps and solar power. Additional capital for social homes is welcome, but the frozen local housing allowance hampers housing associations that have already scaled back their plans for development, and commercial developers will still try to cut affordable homes from section 106 responsibilities.

The Budget also offers 300 new planning officers, but those are spread very thinly over the 326 planning authorities. Newton Abbot’s social housing need has increased by 50%. In my constituency—like in Ely—the average house price is 11 times the average earnings and rents have soared. The broken housing market is failing Newton Abbot, and the proposed changes to the planning rules are insufficient to fix it. Homes are unreachable for too many families. People are being denied the right to a safe and secure place to call home.

I welcome the multi-year settlements for councils and the removal of the “Hunger Games”-style bidding for grants involving huge amounts of wasted efforts writing bids and unachievable timeframes. We cannot let that centralised control continue. We need real devolution, but devolution is not just reorganisation—

Order. I call Rosie Wrighting.

Like many of my hon. Friends, I have spent my career in business—specifically, in retail head offices—so I am proud to be a part of a Government that is pro-business and pro-worker. The last time a Labour Government delivered a Budget in this House, I was 12 years old. That Labour Government looked after our public services, focused on cutting crime, were ambitious about our education and invested in our NHS. It is because of those decisions that I had the opportunities that I did and that I am standing in this House today. Since then, those priorities have been forgotten and our constituents have had to bear the brunt.

People in my constituency of Kettering know all too well the price they have paid for the last 14 years of Tory failure: crumbling hospitals and schools, rising crime and a crisis in SEND. Working people in this country have not had a Government who have worked for them for 14 years. It is shameful that the previous Conservative Government promised funding that simply did not exist. They let our communities think that they were going to receive money, knowing that it was not there and that it would be someone else’s problem after the election.

We now finally have a Labour Government and a truly Labour Budget that prioritises working people. It is incredible to be the youngest woman in the House today, but it is even more incredible to have watched the first female Chancellor deliver the first Labour Budget in 14 years. It shows me and many young women that there is no limit to our ambitions. Regardless of what the Leader of the Opposition thinks, this was a glass ceiling shattered.

There are some hugely important measures in this Budget for the people of Kettering. Our public services deserve better than the treatment they have had for the last 14 years, and I am proud to be part of a Labour Government who are fixing the foundations and rebuilding Britain. People all over the country are waiting to see what this Government will deliver and, thanks to this Budget, we can give them hope that they will have an NHS fit for the future and a country that invites investment, without barriers to opportunity, and in which working people are at the heart of everything we do.

I call Charlie Maynard. Not present.

Given the raid on family firms, it is worth pointing out that the art of a good Budget and smart taxation is plucking the goose to get the maximum number of feathers with the minimum amount of hissing. On that basis, I am afraid this Budget fails lamentably, and it certainly does in my constituency.

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade, in his opening remarks, said that 500 farms a year will be affected by the Budget’s changes to agricultural property relief. He said it casually, as if it is acceptable. Well, that is approximately one for every constituency, and very much more in rural constituencies. The prospect of this affecting, and potentially closing, two farms a year in my constituency is, frankly, horrendous. I urge the Government to think again.

I agree with the Government that it is legitimate to look at those who are land-banking to avoid inheritance tax. If that is their intention, they will have support across the House, but attacking family farms is not on, and I hope the Government will think again.

The Government say that growth is their No. 1 priority. How so? In my constituency, as we have heard, the long-awaited A303 improvements have been canned, and I suspect that the A350 improvements will follow, as the north-south strategic study that was to be the prelude to a Westbury bypass looks like it has been indefinitely delayed.

My right hon. Friend is making a characteristically excellent speech, and he mentions the transport projects that have been scrapped. We have not heard about what is happening to the North Hykeham relief road in my constituency. Does he agree that investing in roads in this way creates growth?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. A Government who are going for growth do not can big infrastructure projects.

As the mercury drops, the removal of the winter fuel allowance is becoming a real worry to many of our rural constituents who live in old, cold homes, many of which have no access to gas.

As we approach Remembrance Sunday, the Department for Education, in its wisdom, has decided to remove funding for combined cadet forces. CCFs have tripled since 2012, and they are a powerful engine for social mobility, as are our armed forces overall. They give kids the confidence they need, for a small amount of money. The withdrawal of funding is appalling. As we all stand around our war memorials this Sunday, we will, of course, be admiring our cadets. It seems spiteful and vindictive that the Government are removing their support.

The Government need to go for growth, but damaging our farmers and our infrastructure, particularly in rural areas, is not the way ahead. I urge them to think again.

I am pleased to be able to speak in the debate on behalf of my constituents in Exeter. This Budget is a welcome break from 14 years of policy uncertainty, fiscal incompetence and austerity for our public services. It starts to put this country back on a firm footing, rebuilding the foundations, and investing in communities and places like Exeter. Exeter people have had a tough few years. The inflation they experienced as higher mortgage costs, higher rents, higher energy prices and higher food prices was made worse by the last Government’s catastrophic and incompetent financial management, and yet we have no apology from the Conservative Benches.

Exeter has huge potential as a thriving economy. Indeed, Exeter is the economic driver of our region, with a gross value added of around £6 billion pounds. It sits at the heart of a travel-to-work area of over 470,000 residents. Exeter is home to a world-class research-led university, and we have a best-in-class further education college and good secondary schools. We have the Met Office and the Exeter Science Park, and we are home to further cutting-edge research, including one of the UK’s supercomputers. However, Exeter has been held back over recent years by a Tory Government that have not invested in public services and our economy in the way we need to succeed. That changes with this Budget.

I am particularly pleased that this Budget commits the UK to an R&D budget of £20 billion, which will mean Exeter and the UK remain at the forefront of scientific innovation. From climate change to land management, healthcare to biotechnology and beyond, Exeter is already a hub for scientific research, but we can do even more.

I listened to my residents on the doorsteps in the Newtown area of Exeter at the weekend, who were really pleased about the investment in our NHS. From long waiting lists to our lack of NHS dentistry services and closures of community pharmacies, my residents have been affected by the huge strain the NHS has found itself under in recent years. I am pleased that this new investment in the NHS budget will begin to fix our local NHS, though people realise that will take time.

While the secondary schools in Exeter do not suffer from the awful RAAC crisis, because every single one of them was rebuilt under the last Labour Government, I know how important the new funding will be to schools around the country. Investing in our education settings is important. I will be supporting the excellent Exeter College as it seeks to grow its campus, to continue to deliver exceptional education to young people in Exeter and across the south-west.

Having a healthy, well-educated city, with opportunities to work in the high-tech sectors of the future is vital to our future economic prosperity. I close by welcoming that this is a Budget that recognises that reality, and also recognises that the south-west region, and Exeter in particular, has huge potential and will play a significant role in the growth of the UK economy in the future.

I congratulate all those who made their maiden speeches today.

This Budget is heralded as a Budget for rebuilding Britain, so let us take a closer look at one or two aspects of that. First, as far as I am concerned, the care sector is an integral part of our national health and wellbeing. How will the additional employer national insurance costs affect that sector? Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting the Burnbank care home in Buckie, in my constituency, one of 12 care homes run by Ron Taylor and his partners. Ron and his colleagues pride themselves on the ethos of their homes, where personalised care is provided at the expense of larger profits, and where staff turnover is low and morale is high. Ron tells me they came through the pandemic without a single case of covid in their homes. How will the national insurance changes help to rebuild the economy, when Ron and his partners must consider how they will find the substantial additional sums necessary to ensure the homes continue to operate with the same wonderful care and humanity? Can there not be an exception made for this sector?

Secondly, let me turn to farming. Food security is the bedrock of everything else. We cannot rebuild Britain without food security. Recently, during a political discussion with my daughter, I asked her, “Where do you think your food comes from?” She said, “Sainsbury’s.” Just under a year ago, the then shadow Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs stated that the Labour party had no intention to raise additional revenue through the agricultural property relief provisions. To reverse that decision, after making an explicit promise not to do so, is shameful, and will put confidence in this Government at an all-time low, after only four months. That is quite an achievement.

Thirdly, let me press the issue of rebuilding public confidence. The new Government rightly prioritised sorting out the infected blood and the Post Office scandals, which are two important steps in rebuilding public confidence in our public services and in Government generally. But what of the WASPI women, who were referred to by the hon. Member for Liverpool Walton (Dan Carden)? There was no mention of them in the Budget and no understanding that this is a vital part of the process of rebuilding public confidence in what we do in this place. Compensation was recommended six months ago by the parliamentary and health service ombudsman, and I call on the Government and the Minister to address that issue. These women deserve justice, not just means-tested justice—no ifs, no buts, just do it.

Finally, the people of Scotland are left wondering exactly how this Budget, billed as rebuilding Britain, will actually work for them. I have many other questions, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I will have to leave it there.

I congratulate all hon. Members who have made their maiden speeches today and who have spoken so powerfully.

I am very honoured to speak in this debate, as it is a Budget that breaks the mould. It breaks the mould with its delivery by Britain’s first female Chancellor of the Exchequer. It breaks the mould with its ambitious investment in industry and public services, which speaks to every part of the United Kingdom. And it breaks the mould of Tory Budgets and mini-Budgets, which lumbered the country with declining living standards, a painful lack of investment, public services at breaking point, and no economic growth to show for it.

The imperative for investment in services and industry has never been greater. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor has responded to that challenge, delivering a Budget that has ambition, aspiration and fairness at its heart. We are fixing the foundations so that we can rebuild this country.

The priority of this Labour Government is growth—growth for our economy, for wages, for living standards and for our public services. This means an uplift in the national living wage and the national minimum wage, giving a wage boost to those on the lowest incomes. There is a record £22.6 billion investment in the NHS, which covers 40,000 new elective appointments a week and a programme to modernise services and slash waiting times. Let me be clear: this additional funding has to make its way to frontline services in Scotland, where one in six Scots is languishing on a waiting list.

We have also had a massive increase in education funding but, again, the Scottish Government must make sure that this money makes its way to our council budgets. We must also get the money into those schools impacted by the RAAC crisis, such as St Kentigern’s academy in Blackburn where West Lothian council has not received one penny in financial support for the £35 million partial rebuild of the school.

I thank my hon. Friend for giving way. Conservative Members have said that they would like to see tax cuts in the Budget, but does she agree that they have not spelled out how they would pay for those tax cuts and which public services and investments they would cut to pay for those cuts?

My hon. Friend makes a good point. Investment must be paid for. I think that Members across the House are very much aware of the desperate need for investment in our public services and in industry. Investment is required in social and affordable homes across the UK, to offer security and stability to more than one million people who have nowhere to call home. Again, the Scottish Government must grasp the nettle here and deal with the housing emergency throughout Scotland. They have to deliver funding to the councils and the registered social landlords to bring down the shameful levels of homelessness that we see right across the country.

My right hon. Friend the Chancellor is delivering the largest budget settlement for Scotland in the history of devolution. As I have said, this money must reach frontline services, struggling families and local communities. No more excuses from the SNP Government. For too long, they have bungled Scotland’s finances and under-invested in public services, with many services, such as the NHS and council-run services, stretched to breaking point, all while crying, “It wisnae me,” and pointing to Westminster. No more. At the election, we said, “Don’t send a message to Westminster; send a Government,” and that is exactly what the people of Scotland did. The Budget makes good on Labour’s commitment to deliver the change that the Scottish people voted for—change that delivers for Scotland and every part of the UK.

I congratulate all those who made their maiden speeches today, and I congratulate President Trump on his election. While many of us in this House have legitimate concerns about what his victory presages for democracy and the rule of law, we should not undermine those values by criticising the American people for the choices that they have made.

It was a consequential presidential election, and this should have been a consequential Budget, given the cost of living crisis, record NHS waiting lists, crumbling public services and decaying infrastructure. After years of broken promises by an out-of-touch Conservative Government, people are desperate for fundamental change. Sadly, the Budget failed to deliver it. There are aspects that my party and I welcome, particularly extra investment in our NHS, although where is the structural change and reform of social care that are key to saving our NHS?

More fundamentally, despite the Government’s talking the talk, they have not walked the walk to grow our economy. In fact, much of what the Chancellor announced last week will hold us back. As the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for transport, I question whether the Chancellor is serious about economic growth, given that she has inflicted a real-terms cut to the transport budget. Our transport system should be the engine of our economy. After years of neglecting our infrastructure, the time has come to make targeted investments that would make a real difference to people’s lives by initiating organic growth, rather than the sugar rush of increased Government spending, which, as the OBR has shown, will dissipate in future years. Sadly, the Transport Secretary’s previous promises of “unprecedented funding” have resulted in little more than recycled infrastructure announcements, including some that have already been built, and increases to bus and rail fares that will hit the poorest hardest.

It is not just with regard to transport policy that the Budget disappoints. Labour claims to be championing working people and growth, but the increase in employers NI contributions is a tax on jobs, as it was when the Tories did it. It will put small businesses, which should be in the vanguard of our growth strategy, in jeopardy, and as the IFS has said, it will depress wages in the long run. We all appreciate the mess that the Government have inherited from the Conservatives. Earlier today, the Prime Minister said that his Government

“made the economy the centrepiece of our Budget”.

However, a Budget that damages the finances of families and businesses while stifling growth is not doing what it says on the tin, but rather kicking the can down the road, and doing nothing to reset our economy by laying the foundations for genuine, productive, organic growth.

I thank Members for their maiden speeches—such warm and thoughtful contributions. I look forward to hearing more from the Members who spoke today.

Growth for higher living standards is the defining mission of this Government, and rightly so. Labour Members know—we have seen it play out over the last 14 years—that there is a link between the health of the national economy and the health of family finances up and down the country. Why have families in this country suffered in the last 14 years? It is because productivity growth has been on the floor. Had wages in this country continued to grow since the financial crisis at the rate they had before, families would not be just £1,000 or £2,000 a year better off; on average, workers would be £10,700 better off had the Conservative party grown the economy and our productivity so that families’ living standards could improve.

I think particularly of young people and children, and the economy that they will grow up in. I want people all over the country—not just in Chipping Barnet but across the United Kingdom—to enter a jobs market where good jobs are available in every place. In elections to come in five, 10 or 15 years’ time, I want our politics to be defined not by scarcity and fighting over limited resources because we have continued on the path of decline that the Conservatives set us on, but by abundance and there being enough—maybe even more than enough—for every family. Then, children from whatever background —particularly those from backgrounds like mine, growing up in low-income families, in social housing and on free school meals—can have the opportunities that they need. This Budget has done so much to help children and families like that.

We have changed the fiscal rules so that we can invest again in our public services and infrastructure. We are reforming welfare so that we can support more people into work. We are putting money into affordable housing so that we can get to 1.5 million new homes. We are investing in transport, including Northern Powerhouse rail and here in London. I am confident that, thanks to those reforms, the Office for Budget Responsibility, which set out that it had not yet taken account of many of the reforms that the Government are implementing, will be able to revise up those growth forecasts so that, as the Chancellor said, what we have achieved so far is not the summit of our ambitions but only the beginning.

It is a pleasure to take part in the debate. We have heard fantastic maiden speeches from across the House, and I am sure that we have all enjoyed the insights from them. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet (Dan Tomlinson). I loved the way he set out his aspiration for the kind of country of abundance that we should seek. He is entirely right, but I am just not sure that this Budget is the way to get there. If the penny drops with him over time, I hope that he will be able to engage with us in coming up with a more constructive way of delivering the growth that this country needs.

Not only is this a Budget of broken promises, but unfortunately—and this is an important issue—it is a bad faith Budget. I do not want to rehearse—although there is so much to rehearse—the 50 promises not to raise taxes or the bogus £22 billion that was not validated by the OBR, but those are serious points. It is good to see the engagement from Labour Members, because in politics one cannot afford to have a reputation for being dishonest and not doing what one says. [Interruption.] Labour Members who laugh at that should remember Cicero’s advice. He was always better at giving advice than following it, but he said:

“The foundation of justice is…good faith; that is, truth and fidelity to promises and agreements.”

Without that, we lose trust.

Does the right hon. Gentleman think that the former Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip was honest at all times?

Steve Tuckwell was a great man!

Yes. And with respect to the hon. Gentleman’s point, I think that the former Prime Minister and Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip was true to himself, true to his heart and true in his expressions—although, like all of us, he probably had his moments. What he never did was set out on a deliberate path to mislead people. He set out his honest view of the way the world should be.

Unfortunately, 9.7 million people, including 15,000 of my constituents, believed the promises of the now Labour Government, and even 410 Members of Parliament thought that they were being honest.

I thank my right hon. Friend for the speech that he is making. Does he agree that many of those people will now feel betrayed?

I think people do feel betrayed. We need to conduct our politics as honestly as we can. The Labour Government broke their promise not to raise taxes on working people, because, as the OBR has made clear, the NICs raise will overwhelmingly fall on working people. In fact, if we go through the numbers, as I did, it turns out that there is a bigger reduction in wages than there is net receipt to the Exchequer. That is quite a remarkable achievement—probably only a Labour Government could do that.

Of course, the Government have also put up the cost of getting on the bus. If ever there was a symbol of working people, travelling from my constituency to a low-paid job in Hull, that is it. It will cost them £500 a year extra out of taxed income. I do not know why the hon. Member for Hitchin (Alistair Strathern) is grinning—I know he grins a lot, but it should not be funny to him that someone in a low-wage job who travels into Hull every day will pay £500 a year more because of the decisions his Government are making. For a couple, it is £1,000 a year. That cost is real, and it should not be glossed over.

There is just one train station in my constituency, and people who live in Withernsea have no choice but to travel 26 miles to get there. The Prime Minister’s constituents are blessed with a pick and mix of ways to get to the office: the tube, the overground, trains, Ubers, Bolts, and even Boris bikes. That is not the case in rural and coastal East Yorkshire: my constituents get the bus at 7 o’clock in the morning, and they get another bus at 6 o’clock at night. That is their lived reality, and the serious impact of this Budget should be recognised.

Another broken promise was to pensioners, who were told that they would have security in retirement—that their benefits would not be touched. Taking £300 from the very poorest pensioners is not keeping that promise. [Interruption.] The very poorest pensioners are those eligible for pension credit.

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I will not. The very poorest pensioners are those eligible for pension credit, and nearly 900,000 of them will not get that £300. That is the truth—there is no point denying it.

Finally, there is the awful betrayal of British farmers, many of whom work from dawn to dusk to ensure our supermarkets are full of fresh fruit and veg. According to my constituent William Hodgson, who runs a small family farm near Withernsea, it is a “rural catastrophe”. I ask the Government to think again.

One thing that people in Folkestone and Hythe said on the doorstep during the general election was that public services, particularly the NHS, do not work any more. I am proud that the first Labour Budget in 14 years has answered those calls: billions of pounds will be invested in the UK’s public services. That will be the start of a long process of rebuilding those services, which were left flat on their face after 14 years of Tory neglect.

It was interesting that in the minutes after the Budget, Folkestone and Hythe Conservatives were tweeting at me on social media, complaining about higher taxes and higher borrowing. That sounds to me like the arsonists criticising the fire service. The Chancellor was very open about what was required to start fixing the foundations of our country, and the question that the Conservatives cannot answer is what taxes they would have increased instead. If they would have borrowed less, what public services would they have cut? The truth is that after another five years of Tory rule, we would have seen more austerity, leaving our public services to rot—more hardship and literally more pain for the working people who have borne the brunt of 14 years of austerity, covid restrictions and the rising cost of living. I am proud to be a Labour MP supporting a Labour Government who chose not to go down that road. I fully accept that this Budget involved hard choices, but they were hard choices that were ducked by the Conservative party for years and years.

In addition to the headlines from the Budget, which I warmly welcome—such as the £22 billion for the NHS and raising the national minimum wage—this Budget has given hope to the hundreds of constituents writing to me about a whole range of matters, including children with special educational needs and disabilities. In Kent, the Tory-run county council’s SEND provision is on its knees; thanks to Labour’s Budget, there will now be £1.3 billion of extra help to build an education system that can cater for every child’s needs. For people in rural areas of my constituency, such as Romney Marsh, who have no, or no proper access to, broadband, £500 million will be allocated to help improve such services.

The Budget’s increase in carer’s allowance will be welcomed by the over 2,000 carers in my constituency receiving that allowance, and the extra £600 million in grant funding to local authorities for social care is especially urgent in areas such as mine, where the population is older and more vulnerable. I also warmly welcome the £100 billion of infrastructure investment over the next five years, and will continue to make the case for investment in upgrading the rail freight infrastructure in Kent, particularly to maximise the use of the channel tunnel’s rail freight capacity.

I congratulate those hon. Members who made their maiden speech in this debate. Their speeches were touching and very inspirational.

The Chancellor promised us that by making the necessary tough choices, the autumn Budget would provide the blueprint for unlocking growth and prosperity, yet I struggle to see the substantive improvement that my constituents will experience to their lives—and for good reason. Many people in Birmingham Perry Barr have never felt as poor, as disheartened and as ignored as they do at this moment, and it does not take much soul-searching to see why. The Budget did not deliver for the 73.7% of pensioners in my constituency who are no longer eligible for the winter fuel payment, many of whom are now forced to choose between keeping warm, feeding themselves or incurring an inordinate amount of debt.

The Budget did not hear the pleas of families in low-income households. Some 48.9% of children in Birmingham Perry Barr live in poverty, and 5,930 children in my constituency alone live in households directly impacted by the two-child benefit cap, yet despite the child poverty crisis unfolding nationally, this Government’s refusal to remove that cruel measure has limited their ability to tackle the issue head-on. In the wake of the Budget, the safety net for our nation’s most vulnerable stakeholders is unable to support the weight of living; the protections are brittle and hollowed out.

This Budget did not serve my constituents in Birmingham Perry Barr, nor did it ease the burden for Birmingham’s 1.2 million residents, who continue to face indiscriminate cuts to local government spending. Following mismanagement, Birmingham city council, which, incidentally, is Labour-run, is essentially bankrupt. Necessary services such as transport for schoolchildren with special needs, adult social care, youth centres and libraries are being cut and closed—the list is endless. What was once a far-reaching local government authority has been reduced to a minimalist, bare-bones, skeleton service. While I welcome the Government’s slight increase in local government finances, Birmingham city council needs a significant amount of funding. I urge the Government to consider increasing local government finance.

It is a great honour to speak in today’s Budget debate. This is the first Labour Budget in 14 years, delivered by the first female Chancellor in 800 years, and it lays the foundation for local and national economic growth. Like many high streets across the UK, town centres in my constituency have faced serious challenges. Over the years, businesses have closed, unemployment has risen and crime has increased—all signs of 14 years of Conservative under-investment and neglect that has hurt not only our local economy, but the very fabric of our communities.

One thing we can all agree on is that we want our town centres to come back to life. We want to restore the vibrancy that makes our high streets the heart of our communities. That is why I will speak about the possibilities that this new Budget opens for towns such as Leigh, Atherton, Golborne, Lowton and Tyldesley—towns that have been fighting back, despite years of disinvestment.

We have seen that targeted support can make a real difference. Take Leigh Spinners Mill, my former place of work: this community-owned, co-operative venture hosts more than 80 businesses, from start-ups to social enterprises, all thriving right there in Leigh. Those businesses have flourished with minimal investment, proving that when we create the right conditions, such as affordable rents and reduced business rates, local economies can thrive. As much as we celebrate projects such as the Mill, however, the question remains how we bring the same success to our high streets. The Government’s new business rates initiative is a step in the right direction, protecting small businesses and encouraging entrepreneurship.

Supporting high streets is not just about economics; it is about revitalising the unique character of our communities and creating the independence needed for businesses to grow. I am particularly encouraged by the Government’s commitment to the long-term plan for towns, despite the £22 billion black hole left by the previous Government. That strategy aligns with Labour’s manifesto priorities, reaffirming our commitment to building a sustainable, inclusive economy that benefits everybody in our communities.

Like everyone else, I would like to extend my congratulations to those who have made their maiden speech, and to say what a pleasure and honour it is to share the Chamber with them. I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, which details my professional career as an optometrist providing NHS services and owning small businesses.

This is my first Budget, just as it is for many other Members in the Chamber, and I have listened carefully to Members dissecting it and weighing up the details—as always, the devil is in the detail. As an NHS care worker, I welcome the increase in the NHS budget, but I am concerned by the absence of specific measures to address the funding crisis in professions such as dentistry, pharmacy and optometry, all of which have important roles to play in providing care to patients. Investment in such services will save millions in the long run. In my constituency, there is a real disparity in patient and GP numbers; in fact, it is the second largest such disparity in the country. For every GP, there are 3,262 patients. That is untenable. As a result, many people cannot see their GP, and that is where optometry, dentistry and pharmacy play a huge role, serving those who do not even have a registered GP. I am sorry that there is a need to do more to promote the contribution that those professions make to the NHS, and ensure that they are properly funded in the future.

I welcome the increase in funding for social care and special educational needs and disabilities, and in the national minimum wage. However, in placing a burden on pensioners and small business owners, the Budget has missed an opportunity. The Government could have used wealth taxes on those in our society with the broadest shoulders to raise the revenue necessary to fund improvements in our public services. Instead, they allowed the money to be raised from small businesses and those who are most vulnerable, such as our pensioners.

I warmly welcome the additional £47.7 billion that this Budget will deliver to the Scottish Government—the largest settlement in the history of devolution. That additional funding can rebuild Scotland and our failing public services, but the Scottish Government must now take responsibility, admit their failures and take a long-term approach that is serious about addressing Scotland’s challenges.

Economic and political stability underpin the Chancellor’s Budget. The undoubted attractiveness of Scotland for domestic and international investment requires the removal of uncertainty, which can hinder investment plans. Only when there is a Government in Scotland who seek to genuinely work collaboratively with the UK Government and the private sector on investment plans for not just the next decade but beyond will we fully reap the benefits of this Budget.

However, we have a Government in Scotland who make policy and economic decisions through the prism of the constitution, and who seek, as a matter of ideology, to find points of difference and divergence. That was demonstrated by their failure to even turn up and vote for GB Energy—unquestionably an economic opportunity for Scotland. The Chancellor has committed the UK Government to working closely with the Scottish Government on the industrial strategy and the national wealth fund, but the vehicle for promoting that collaboration—the Council of the Nations and Regions—is unfortunately being undermined by the SNP, which cannot bear the prospect of UK joint working being a success. It has been manufacturing grievances on behalf of local councils regarding representation on the council, although it has been the most centralising Administration that these islands have ever seen, disproportionately stripping local government in Scotland of power and resources. I welcome the efforts of the Secretary of State for Scotland to rise above this petty divisiveness in pursuit of a higher vision for jobs, growth and prosperity.

This Budget is a serious, strategic, long-term approach to fixing our country—an approach that we have not seen from the Scottish Government or in the last 14 years from the Conservative Government. It sits alongside an ambitious investment and industrial strategy—again, something that we have not seen from either the SNP or the Conservatives in power in the last decade or so. I am confident that, with this new approach, we can rebuild our economy and country, and I therefore welcome the measures outlined in the Budget to rebuild Britain.

It would be remiss of me not to take this opportunity to congratulate the 47th President of the United States of America, Donald Trump. The fact that President Trump made such a comeback after one term out of office should be a warning to this Government: if they continue on a trajectory of burdening ordinary working-class people and businesses financially, and with their anti-life policies, their stay in office will be equally short.

The theme for today’s debate is rebuilding Britain, yet in reality the Budget has the potential to rock the very foundations of the United Kingdom. This Government’s Budget has dealt the most devastating blow to so many: 10 million pensioners are left reeling from the decision to cut the winter fuel payment, with many now having to choose between heating and eating; and the WASPI women have been failed again, as there is no provision to right the wrongs that have impacted so many women across the United Kingdom, including in my constituency of Upper Bann.

Prior to the Budget, I had warned this House that in the space of a month, four cafés in Portadown in my constituency closed their doors. This Budget will undoubtedly close many more. The requirement on businesses to pay additional national insurance contributions will tell a tale. This is not a Budget for working people, despite the rise in the living wage, because that rise will be swallowed up by higher retail costs due to the rise in national insurance contributions for employers. It is a cause-and-effect algorithm. This Budget hits workers and businesses.

The Prime Minister and his Chancellor have betrayed our nation’s farmers, decimated our family farms and jeopardised our proud rural heritage. The introduction of a 20% inheritance tax on family farms valued at over £1 million marks an unprecedented and unjust assault on the backbone of our nation. No farms or farmers means no home-grown food, and rising costs as we have to import food to eat. This policy threatens the survival of family-run farms, forcing many, especially in Northern Ireland, to consider selling off land or assets to meet tax liabilities, thereby undermining the continuity of farming businesses across generations. For Northern Ireland, this tax burden looms heavy. Family farms will be dismantled to cover liabilities, eroding the very fabric of rural life.

I urge the Government to stop with the spin and, more importantly, stop the farm tax, and to implement policies that support our farmers, rather than hinder them. We must prioritise the sustainability of our agricultural sector to preserve our rural communities, and to ensure the prosperity of our nation, and food security, for future generations.

Some have spoken today of the wait for this Budget. Depending on our perspective, we waited either 16 weeks or 14 years, and I was in the latter camp. I was proud to sit behind my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds West and Pudsey (Rachel Reeves), the first woman Chancellor in the 800-year history of the office, as she delivered the Budget last week, and I was even more proud of the Budget that she introduced and what it means for working people of all ages in Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy. One in four children in my constituency are growing up in poverty; they have been failed by two Opposition parties. Save the Children Scotland said this year that the Scottish Government’s policies would not “move the dial” on child poverty, and the SNP has consistently failed to meet the targets it has set. Once again, its Members are not here to listen to the debate.

Because of this Budget, Labour’s fair repayment rate will mean that more than 1 million of the UK’s poorest households will be £420 a year better off from next April. That is expected to benefit 110,000 households in Scotland and to begin at last to drive down dependence on emergency food parcels. Many of those visiting food banks are in work, and the 6.7% increase to the national living wage and the even larger increase for 18 to 20-year-olds is an important recognition of the financial difficulty in which many of my constituents find themselves.

In Fife alone, more than 8,000 low-paid workers stand to benefit from the increase to the national living wage. The mineworkers’ pension scheme will return more than £1 billion to 112,000 former coal workers, 824 of whom are in my constituency. That means that the people who powered our country, who were so badly mistreated for so many years by the Conservatives, will receive a 32% increase to their annual pensions.

Finally, Labour’s Budget delivers the largest financial settlement to the Scottish Government in the history of devolution, with an extra £3.4 billion next year alone. It is over to the SNP now to use that competently to fix Scotland’s precious public services, which the SNP has run down over the past 17 years.

In conclusion, this Budget delivers for all age groups and all parts of my constituency in enacting our manifesto commitments to make work pay, to revive our public services and to tackle poverty. I am proud to support this historic Budget.

I commend those who have made their maiden speeches, and I commend Members for their collegiate and warm response.

People in North Norfolk will welcome aspects of this Budget, such as the promise of greater spending on our national health service, but for all that welcome stability, they have several significant concerns. The potential for increased costs for North Norfolk’s GP surgeries and all sorts of other care providers through the national insurance rise is a huge worry.

The huge challenge facing rural constituencies from this Budget is the Government’s family farm tax. I want to share the story of Judith with the House. She is a constituent of mine who lives on her farm in Antingham. She and her husband are fifth-generation farmers, and they have reared prize-winning cattle on their small farm. Their son has been working on the farm with them for the past 40 years. He is also a carer for his father—Judith’s husband—who is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Judith is losing sleep over whether her son will be forced to sell the farm and its machinery to pay the death duties, which will mean an end to generations of family farming on their land. These are hard-working, honest Norfolk farmers, not multimillionaires or land barons. Indeed, many Norfolk farmers have contacted me before and since the Budget to share their concerns, and I am proud to be standing up for them today.

North Norfolk will also feel the brunt of the increase in the bus fare cap. Rural public transport is a lifeline for many residents living in our villages. It gets them to the shops, to the doctors and to see friends and family. Asking them to swallow an increase in cost while Londoners continue to enjoy a £1.75 cap is ludicrous. They, along with pensioners in North Norfolk who have already lost the winter fuel allowance, are starting to question the change that this Government are offering.

I honestly believe that this was a Budget of extremely good intentions from Labour, but sadly a handful of missteps have led many in North Norfolk to question the direction in which we are going. I hope to work with the Government to see how we can ensure that the positive parts of this Budget deliver for North Norfolk and remedy the issues causing the most angst. As ever, I will be putting North Norfolk residents first, standing up for constituents, raising their concerns and ensuring that their voices are heard loudly and clearly.

Families in my constituency have been hit hard in recent years by rising inflation outpacing their take-home pay. I am delighted, therefore, that the Chancellor has already recognised the importance of public servants with a fair pay rise of 5.5%, or 6% for the military, meaning that nurses, teachers and service personnel are fairly recognised for their hard work. We are also recognising workers through the rise in the national living wage to £12.21 an hour, which will make a huge difference to living standards for my constituents in North East Derbyshire, enabling more people, particularly young people, to stand on their own two feet.

One of the biggest issues I hear about from constituents is the terrible state of the special educational needs and disabilities provision by Derbyshire county council. The Conservatives have determinedly and deliberately run the council into a dire financial position, leaving many children paying the price through long waiting lists for assessments and inadequate support, which costs the council even more in fines. I am proud that we in Labour will not accept this Tory neglect of vulnerable children and have allocated an extra £1 billion to reform SEND. That shows the difference a Labour Government can make to ordinary families.

We are fortunate in North East Derbyshire to have a wealth of small businesses, including retail on our high streets, and service businesses, whether in landscaping or consulting. We in Labour know the value of rewarding those who are prepared to take a risk and build their own business. I am delighted that the threshold at which employer national insurance contributions are made has been increased to £10,500, meaning that many small businesses in North East Derbyshire will see the cost of employing people fall and their ability to grow rise. Under Labour, we know the future is bright for business.

I declare that I have a financial interest in some of the Budget measures.

The Budget is one of broken promises and poorly thought out measures for every generation. For children who attend private schools, their schools will face VAT. Quite apart from the disruption that will cause, it is unlikely to raise the money the Government suggest, because the wealthier parents have already paid, more students will need to be looked after in the state sector, there will be greater demand on SEND services and there will be a reduction in employment among staff who previously worked at such schools.

The Prime Minister told those who go to university that he wanted to abolish tuition fees. I wonder whether they are surprised that he has put them up. Young people wanting to buy their first home will see stamp duty thresholds fall, and many more will pay stamp duty on their first home.

What of those working people the Labour party has found it so difficult to define? First, they have to get to work. Those who use the bus will find that the fare has increased by 50%. Those who have commercial pick-up trucks will see that the tax on them has gone up too. What about the national insurance rise? It is a tax on every single working person and it has not been thought through, as public sector workers will also need to pay the national insurance.

The Government said to The Times that they were going to provide mitigation, but the Department of Health and Social Care does not seem to know how much it is going to cost to start with. I asked a written parliamentary question and was told it will take longer to prepare an answer. The Department does not seem to know how much it will cost directly or indirectly. Many right hon. and hon. Members have talked today about the indirect costs that will face air ambulances, hospices, general practices, opticians, care homes, mental health services and outsourced laundry, catering and human resources.

What about the private hospitals delivering waiting list initiative work for the NHS? They will also need to put up prices. Will the nurse who works at a private hospital doing a proportion of her or his work for the NHS and a proportion for private enterprise be partly recompensed, or not? It has not been properly thought through. We will need the NHS for all those old people, cold and vulnerable in their homes, who have had the winter fuel allowance snatched from them—people the Labour Government have let down. If they die, they have the prospect of further taxation on their pensions, business assets and family farms.

My hon. Friend raised the issue of family farms; does she agree that it has been hugely disingenuous of the Government to repeatedly say they have farmers’ backs, only to abandon agricultural property relief at the first opportunity?

I do. As a farmer’s wife, I particularly recognise the effort of families to work together on farms. It is not the most profitable work, but is a labour of true love.

Those who need a pint after listening to all the increases in taxation across the generations may be pleased to hear that pints are going to be a penny cheaper—woo-hoo—but with business rates relief for pubs and other hospitality having gone from 75% to 40%, and the rise in the minimum wage and in national insurance contributions, the likelihood is that prices will not go down at all, leading to further disappointment.

The Budget is bad for business, bad for growth, bad for the young and bad for the old. But most of all it is a break of trust. It is a litany of broken promises from the Labour Government to the public. Labour voters, like the Prime Minister’s favourite singer, may be saying to themselves, “Did you have to do this? I was thinking that you could be trusted.”

It is a pleasure to contribute to this debate on the first Labour Budget in 14 years, and particularly to mention the impacts that it will have on my constituents in Kilmarnock and Loudoun, and on Scotland as a whole. This Labour Budget delivers the largest settlement for the Scottish Government in the history of devolution. It means an additional £1.5 billion for the Scottish Government to spend this financial year and an additional £3.4 billion next year. This is a Budget that keeps our promises to Scotland, ends the era of 14 years of Tory austerity, provides billions in investment in public services and prioritises economic growth. The Budget is good for the Scotland Office, good for Scottish Labour and, most importantly, good for the people of Scotland.

An aspect of the Budget that is particularly welcome is the reserved spending from the UK Government, which is necessary due to the SNP Administration in Scotland at best spending on their own priorities and, at worst, wasting money on silly vanity projects or legal fees to cover up freedom of information requests. The reserved spending will go directly to those communities who need it, such as Kilmarnock, the largest town in my community.

Despite the aforementioned biggest financial settlement in the history of devolution, the nationalists have taken Scotland in the wrong direction and have been careless with Scotland’s money. The SNP Administration cannot continue to blame others for their own economic incompetence. It is about time that they apologised to the people of Scotland for their mismanagement of public funds, but I will not hold my breath.

The problems in Scottish public services created by the SNP are not solved by having more money to spend. Put simply, the SNP needs to get smarter at spending it. The SNP wastes millions on delayed discharge and agency staff in our NHS, on ferries that never sail and on pet projects that do not deliver for Scotland, all the while decimating local communities’ funding, meaning that vital services are being lost. While Labour has committed not to increase taxes on working people, the SNP continues to try to use income tax as a substitute for economic growth, with those earning over £29,000 paying more.

Labour’s manifesto commitment to “Brand Scotland” has been realised. An initial investment of £750,000 will fund trade missions, promote Scottish goods and services around the world and help Scottish businesses export for the first time. This is the Budget that my constituents have been waiting for, the Budget that Scotland has been waiting for and the Budget that the UK has been waiting for. I fully support it.

I will start by welcoming a few measures in the Budget, in particular the increase in the carer’s allowance and the funding for the NHS that is sorely needed after the last Government. There is something that I am confused about, though. This, as trailed in the Labour manifesto, was meant to be a Budget for growth—indeed, that was how the Chancellor introduced it last Wednesday, and the Secretary of State in opening the debate today said that the Budget will bring growth—but it does not appear to help small businesses, which are the engine of our economy, employ over half the people in it and provide 50% of the revenue.

In my constituency of Tunbridge Wells is Adrian Scripps, which grows 10% of the UK’s apple crop. James, its managing director, tells me that its labour costs will go up by 8%, so this year, if he does nothing about it, he will lose 50% of his profits—and this is a good year, so in a lean year he would lose money. If a business producing 10% of the UK’s apple crop is to lose out from the Budget, what does that mean for the wider SME sector?

As an aside, if I were to ask James what he thinks about the Government’s policy on Europe, which is essentially a continuation of the previous Government’s, I could not repeat what he would say in the Chamber. As a result of this Budget, James will have to lay off staff. People losing jobs does not grow the economy.

I have a short time left, but I would like to talk about Toby, who runs The Chapel salon in Tunbridge Wells. He is also the head of the Salon Employers Association, which represents 1,900 salons across the United Kingdom. He estimates that more than 25% of salons may go under as a result of this Budget. Cutting hair is labour intensive and the margins are wafer thin. Businesses going insolvent does not grow the economy. I understand, and I agree, that we need to invest in our public services—I think the Government have got that bit of the Budget right—but I disagree with who is taxed to pay for it. The Liberal Democrats think that we should tax big businesses, and the Labour Government think that we should tax small businesses. That is not on.

After more than a decade of stagnation, this Budget provides the vital reset that our economy needs, not just to address the immediate challenges we face but to lay the foundations for a brighter and fairer future for all.

There are many welcome measures in this Budget, and of particular importance to my constituency will be the increase in the carer’s allowance weekly earnings limit, giving carers greater flexibility to work and increase their financial security. The additional £1 billion for SEND and alternative provision is a vital first step as we begin the work to rebuild the broken system, and to restore trust with parents that education can be inclusive, supportive and break from the adversarial model that is the root of the crisis they face.

Today, I will focus on housing as we strive to get Britain building once again. Having worked in the social housing sector for the past 20 years, I am convinced that whether the issue is educational opportunity for children living in overcrowded accommodation, the healthcare needs of people with the blight of damp and mould on their bedroom walls, or the cost of living pressure caused by poorly insulated or draughty homes, fixing the housing crisis is the solution. A safe, decent and affordable home is the cornerstone of a dignified life. When people have decent, safe accommodation that is suited to their needs, they have a strong foundation on which to build their lives. That, in turn, has a stabilising effect on their families and the wider community.

In recent years, we have witnessed a dramatic rise in house prices and soaring rental costs, leaving many individuals and families struggling to secure a roof over their heads. In my area, average prices have increased by 59% since 2010, while earnings have increased by only 23% over the same period. For many young, hard-working people, the dream of home ownership has slipped away. That is why the £500 million investment in the affordable homes programme is so important, as well as the long-term settlement for social rents, to give confidence to our registered providers to make their own investments.

It is important that we ensure that support is in place for vulnerable populations, which is why I welcome the additional £233 million allocated to tackling homelessness, bringing total spending in this area to £1 billion. We believe that every individual deserves a safe and stable place to call home. That is how we transform lives and strengthen communities. I am proud that we have a Labour Government in office who take the housing crisis seriously—a Government who are dedicated to delivering the change that our country so desperately needs, and delivering hope for a brighter future for everyone. This Government will build a Britain where everyone has a place to call home.

Order. To ensure that I can get in as many people as possible, there should be no further interventions.

In Mid Sussex we do not have many large employers, so small and medium-sized enterprises truly are the backbone of our economy. When watching the Budget statement, Bob from Hurstpierpoint, who is involved in multiple small Mid Sussex businesses, told me:

“the big loser was small business.”

Bob is already having to make contingency plans and think seriously about his workforce going forward. He is right to say that

“without thriving small businesses and SMEs the ability of local communities to thrive is inhibited”.

That is true in Mid Sussex and in communities up and down the country. Another constituent of mine, Ian, who has invested considerably in a local business and employs a number of local people, says that he feels “abandoned”.

The catastrophic impacts of the decision will be not just on employers but on employees—none more than those in Mid Sussex GP and care businesses who have written to me since the Budget. Niki, from Hassocks, a director in a social care organisation supporting adults with learning disabilities, raised two points. First, the national insurance changes will have a disastrous impact on the sector, with social care providers already struggling. Hit in recent years by covid, interest rate hikes, rises in the national living wage and the cost of living crisis, many are teetering on the brink. Secondly, social care providers will feel the Government’s measures acutely and disproportionately. They are people businesses, so almost their entire cost base is hit by the national insurance increase. They employ many people on low wages, so shifting the national insurance threshold to £5,000 has a huge impact.

Katie, a Lindfield GP, said that the changes would directly undermine patient access and patient care. “In our area,” she said,

“there are dwindling partner numbers, old estates, difficulties recruiting staff. We partners aren’t sure how long we can keep providing increasing healthcare for.”

My constituent Tom, a GP partner, told me that because practices do not charge patients, they do not have the option to put up their prices as a business might. He is trying to digest how he feels about partners’ bearing the brunt of these changes. GPs have told me that they are not entitled to claim employment allowance, and we need clarity on that essential point.

This is why the Liberal Democrats are calling for GPs and care providers to be exempt from national insurance rises. When those who employ us, care for us and choose to base their businesses in Mid Sussex feel “insulted, “abandoned” and “unsupported”, 1 fail to see how this decision is the right one.

The Budget speaks to the needs and ambitions of my constituency, supporting our communities in ways that matter deeply. It is a Budget that delivers on infrastructure, on industry and on opportunities to keep our towns and villages thriving.

On transport, the message is clear: we cannot afford to leave our communities disconnected. I have long been vocal about the pressing need for upgrades to the A50/A500 corridor, a critical route linking Uttoxeter and surrounding villages to the rest of the midlands and beyond. The road has needed vital improvements for years, not just to reduce congestion but to ensure the safety and reliability on which our residents and businesses depend. The Conservative party has failed to invest in our infrastructure—a fact well known to Branston residents, who now face a crumbling bridge and roads across my constituency riddled with potholes. Given this Government’s increased focus on local roads and public transport, I am optimistic that our ongoing efforts will soon deliver the changes that my constituents deserve.

My area has a proud industrial heritage, and the Budget provides a lifeline to manufacturing areas. With the first industrial strategy since 2017, we will finally be taking a long-term approach to training, skills and investment. This means that our skilled workers and young people in Staffordshire will not have to leave for opportunities elsewhere, but will instead find them exactly where they should be, backed by investment in green technologies and clean energy initiatives such as Great British Energy. These are not just big-ticket items; they are the jobs, training and progress that people in my constituency need.

Then there is public procurement, with our commitment to back British firms and British jobs with public tenders. With new regulations requiring faster payments and favouring British firms, we are seeing tangible support for the small and medium-sized businesses that are the backbone of our society. We must buy more British, and build more British too. We will use the purchasing power of the British state to invest in our communities. By buying from local companies we are investing in local companies, and by investing in local companies we invest in local jobs, which means more money for our communities—including communities like mine in Anglesey, Shobnall and the Heath. That is real levelling up, not the pale imitation attempted by the Conservative party. It is delivering on promises that we made, not breaking them.

This Budget is a blueprint for a Britain rebuilt. It is not just about growth; it is about renewal. It is about supporting the spirit of innovation and resilience in every part of the country. It is about reminding every family in Burton and every business in Uttoxeter that they are not just part of the economy; they are part of Britain’s future, too.

Thank you for calling me, Madam Deputy Speaker —I was not expecting you to do so. May I associate myself with the remarks made by my hon. Friend the Member for North Norfolk (Steff Aquarone) apropos farms and farmers?

Madam Deputy Speaker, you—I can call you “you”—have heard me talk about health services in the remote far north of Scotland more times than I care to remember. Members refer to the NHS as being on its back, which is nowhere truer than in my constituency. The people in Caithness and Sutherland knew that when they came to put a cross on the ballot paper in July, which is why we got the result that we did. I would say to my hon. Friends who represent other Scottish constituencies that that is true elsewhere, too.

Two doctors in my constituency, Dr Alison Brooks in Thurso and Dr Ewen Pearson in Wick, have made it very clear to me what the effects of the increase in employers’ national insurance will mean. I do not want to bore the Chamber, because we have heard a lot about that already, but the hon. Member for Stroud (Dr Opher), who is not in his place, referred to possible mitigation, and I hope that that will prove to be the case. Otherwise, we could face the diminution of services and even find that jobs will go, which would be totally and completely unacceptable.

I was sitting in the Chamber when the Chancellor announced the £3.4 billion for the Scottish Government, and I heard nine soft thuds as nine chins hit the deck behind me. The SNP had the old, wailing dirge ready: “It’s Westminster what done it. We ain’t got the cash.” Oh! None of them is here. What a shame! Well, I am just going to say what other Members have said. I hope that the SNP Scottish Government get off their backsides and spend the money properly. There is no hiding now, and there is no excuse—they have got the dosh.

Madam Deputy Speaker, how many times have you heard me talk about mums having to go on a more than 200-mile return trip to give birth in the middle of winter? Are we joking? It is amazing that something dreadful has not happened. The doctors I spoke to about national insurance contributions told me that gynae services in the far north of Scotland are on their knees. Dr Pearson told me about a mum who had to wait two years to get a hysterectomy. Is that not a disgrace?

In the county of Caithness, there is not one psychologist —a damning fact, because we know that mental health is such a problem. There is no hiding. The Scottish Government should get on with the day job and sort out the NHS in my constituency and the rest of Scotland. They have no excuses.

In the time allowed, I will confine myself to a few comments on the Budget’s financial settlement for the Ministry of Justice.

The MOJ is one of the smaller Departments in budgetary terms but has suffered the largest cuts in proportion to its size. Given its role in keeping us safe, providing a high-quality judicial and court system, and offering access to justice that is not dependent on means, the previous Government’s actions were not just regrettable, but reckless. I was, therefore, pleased to see substantial real-terms investment for the first time in 14 years. It is not enough to resolve all the crises, but it is a start in turning things around.

Total MOJ spending will rise from £11.9 billion in the last financial year to £13.8 billion in the next—an average real-terms increase of 5.6% a year—and the Law Officers’ budget will increase by 7.5% a year over the same period. Some of that funding has rightly been directed at prisons and probation, with £2.3 billion to be spent on new prisons, half a billion pounds on maintenance and security budgets, and the same on recruiting new staff. However, the Budget made no mention of civil and criminal legal aid, or of additional money to address the unsustainably large courts backlog. This year’s settlement funds 106,500 Crown court sitting days—not enough to address the backlog, which grows ever larger. Trials are being listed for 2027, and there are similar logjams in the civil and family courts and tribunals.

As of 4 November, the prison population was 85,794. Prisons are running at almost full capacity and the prison population is projected to increase to 94,000 by March 2025, and up to 106,000 by March 2027. Prisons are in a dire state. Prisoners are being held in unsafe, crowded conditions on an estate plagued by widespread disrepair and severe maintenance backlogs. Fire safety standards on the prison estate are woefully poor, and we have to ensure that there is a plan for probation to grow in response to measures to reduce prisoner numbers.

Legal aid is another area of acute pressure. Will any of the new money allocated to the Department be spent on legal aid? Failure to invest will deny access to justice, and it would not be possible to tackle the growing court backlog without further investment in criminal and civil legal aid. I was pleased that the Minister said yesterday, in replying to a question from me in the House, that there will be announcements in the next few weeks on legal aid. This is an excellent start, but there is a long way to go to repair our broken justice system.

It was a pleasure and a privilege to listen to some excellent maiden speeches. As a Welsh Liberal Democrat, I am pleased to play my part in constructive opposition. I want to see things get done for Wales, and there are certainly parts of this Budget that we welcome—for example, the increase in the carer’s allowance that my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey) and the Liberal Democrats have campaigned so hard for. Around 10% of the Welsh population are estimated to be unpaid carers, and many of them will see a real difference thanks to this initiative.

We also thank the Government for listening to our calls for extra funding for the NHS and social care. It is now over to the Welsh Government to ensure that all consequential money is spent on health and social care, which has not always happened in the past. With 800,000 people stuck on waiting lists in Wales, which is nearly a third of the population, this could not be more urgent. We want to see further action on social care. Some 50% of beds in Powys are currently blocked, and the patients are unable to be discharged to go back to their homes and families. That is something that must end.

Fixing our health services is key, and it is for this reason that we have called for the national insurance hike to be removed for care providers and GPs. I am proud to have mining heritage in my family, and I welcome the boost to former miners’ pensions, but confusion remains over the future of the British Coal staff superannuation scheme, which has over 41,000 members, many of them across south Wales. Further clarification has not been provided so far for those former miners. Time is running out for many of them, and we urgently call on the Government to provide some reassurance to them.

We have less favourable views on other elements of the Budget, including the changes to agricultural property relief, which are causing a great deal of genuine anxiety across my constituency and Wales as a whole. If the Labour Government do not change course, they will be throwing family farms to the wolves in the same way that other industries have been let down in the past. The impact will be felt not just by young farmers unable to take on a viable farm business, but in wider consequences. The entire rural economy is dependent on farming incomes, so the changes will threaten jobs across Wales. We do not understand why the Government are not raising the revenue from other sources. Why should Welsh farmers bear the brunt of repairing the economic damage caused by the Conservatives?

It is a privilege to speak in this debate following the first Labour Budget in over 14 years and the first in 800 years to be given by a woman. This might not be an achievement that the Leader of the Opposition thinks is of any note, but I can tell her and the House that in my constituency of Cardiff West it is a proud moment, and one that women and girls in my constituency take great pride in.

After 14 years of chaos and instability, this Labour Government have made their choices known in this Budget. This Labour Government have chosen to deal with the £22 billion black hole left by the Tories, and to be honest about it with the British public. This Labour Government have chosen to stabilise our economy so that we can grow our economy. This Labour Government have chosen to invest in our public services and to end the austerity of the last 14 years. And this Labour Government have chosen to support and work with our devolved Governments, rather than denigrate them.

Despite our dire economic inheritance from the Tories, the Chancellor has made some tough choices while holding true to our party’s values in delivering a Budget that supports and invests in working people throughout our regions and nations. This Budget has delivered for my constituency and for Wales more generally. This is the biggest Budget since devolution. It provides a record £1.7 billion spending boost for the Welsh Government to support public services. As a result, my constituents will see the benefits both through the Barnett formula and through direct spending.

I am also proud that the Budget has set aside £100 million to support steel communities, both through the transition board and through the town centre regeneration fund. For the first time ever, it allocates funding to make coal tips safe, with £25 million in new money.

But let us not forget why the choices in this Budget were necessary. The Tories crashed the economy, and we had to fix it. In so doing, we have ensured that working people will not face higher taxes in their payslips, and we are increasing the national living wage by 6.7%.

When we talk about choices, let us not forget the choices that the Conservatives have made. They have chosen to oppose this Budget, which means they are opposed to the investment that will grow our economy. They are opposed to investing in and reforming our public services, which can only mean that they remain committed to continuing austerity.

I do not even know where to begin with the Tories’ disgraceful position of allocating no money whatsoever to their promise to pay compensation to the victims of the contaminated blood and Post Office Horizon scandals. My constituent Sue Sparkes and others have fought this injustice tirelessly.

This Budget shows the difference being made by the Labour Governments in Westminster and Cardiff, and I celebrate it.

The returning tide of populism that we have seen today is a sobering reminder of what can happen when people feel that the system has not been delivering for them. This reality makes fiscal events, such as a Budget delivered by a new Government, so critical. A Budget is more than just an annual accounting practice; it represents an opportunity to reassure our communities that they can trust us—all of us—to recognise their needs, aspirations and concerns. A Budget is an opportunity to meet those needs and to inoculate our communities and our country against the populist contagion that has invaded yet another host today.

Against that backdrop, I will shamelessly share some of Eastbourne’s needs. Eastbourne needs support to tackle homelessness, which has meant that our food bank was the country’s busiest last year. I therefore welcome the £230 million announced in the Budget for homelessness prevention, and I hope the East Sussex floating support service can benefit from it, but we have been let down by the lack of emergency support to help councils like mine with the unsustainable cost of temporary accommodation, as so eloquently described by the hon. Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi).

Eastbourne also needs services at our local hospital, where I was born, to be protected. I welcome the NHS investment announced in the Budget, but I am disappointed that the status of investment in our hospital via the new hospitals programme has still not been confirmed. This means that local mums, who in many cases are having to travel more than 20 miles to have their babies, are still unclear about what investment their hospital will get.

Our significant population of local pensioners and I have pleaded with the Government to review their decision to remove the winter fuel allowance from many pensioners who need it. It is unacceptable that those calls have been ignored.

Our local businesses need additional support to thrive, yet the increase in employer NICs will make it harder for them to survive—especially many of our hospitality businesses, which I am proud to represent as a patron of the Eastbourne Hospitality Association.

Eastbourne’s WASPI women, led by Angela Boas, deserve compensation, which was missing from the Budget. Eastbourne’s SEND families, supported by advocates like Kate Humphries, must benefit from the £1 billion SEND funding that was announced.

Overall, the Government have made progress, but they must go further to reassure my community that they will deliver for Eastbourne on all the counts I have described. Failure to deliver will leave my town more vulnerable to the vice of great hardship, and more exposed to the venom of populist predators.

I congratulate Members on both sides of the House on their excellent maiden speeches today. It is a pleasure to speak in the debate.

For far too long, people in north Wales have suffered because of stagnant wages, falling living standards and rising costs. That is the legacy of the last Conservative Government and why our country has voted for change. Last week, we saw a Budget that turns the page on an era of unfunded policies and sticking-plaster politics. Last week’s Budget was an honest Budget, which will fix the foundations of our economy and improve living standards for people in communities like mine. I thank the Chancellor for this historic Budget and what it means for Wales. The Chancellor has delivered a record £21 billion to the Welsh Government to invest in public services, with £1.7 billion in consequentials through the Barnett formula, but there is more to welcome.

Like my hon. Friends the Members for Beckenham and Penge (Liam Conlon) and for Kettering (Rosie Wrighting), before I came to this House, I worked mostly for and with small businesses. Many measures in the Budget will be welcomed by businesses in my constituency of Bangor Aberconwy. Support for pubs and smaller breweries from cutting duty and providing additional relief will mean brilliant brewers, such as Wild Horse, in Llandudno, and Cwrw Nant, will be supported to thrive.

The continued freeze on fuel duty will be welcomed not only by those who live in rural communities and depend on their cars, but by logistics businesses, such as Baynes & Son in Bangor. The increase in employment allowance is also welcome. Perhaps most importantly, more than 70,000 people in Wales will receive a pay rise next year as a result of the increase in the minimum wage, meaning more people have more money in their pockets to spend in our local economy, including in our shops and cafés and on our high streets.

I am proud that we now have two Labour Governments working hand in hand in the interest of the people of Wales and the UK. This Budget is not just about rebuilding our country; it is about rebuilding trust in politics. Nowhere is that more clear than in the return of a constructive relationship between this UK Government and our Welsh Government in Cardiff. That is the difference a Labour Government and a Labour Budget make. This Budget delivers for Wales and the people of Bangor Aberconwy. We can be proud of the Budget and I know we will see the benefits it will bring in the years to come.

It is a pleasure to follow so many excellent maiden speeches this afternoon.

The Budget marks a seminal moment in the parliamentary calendar. Irrespective of party politics, there is a collective desire that any Budget provides the foundations for our great nation to succeed.

My constituency of Solihull West and Shirley, with its range and breadth of businesses, is an important economic driver for the west midlands. Having sat down with 17 business leaders last Friday, and having visited multiple businesses in the lead up to the Budget, it is important that I convey their balanced and market-led views.

Businesses look for stability. They want to understand the Government’s growth and economic plan for an industrial strategy. However, as one CEO described it, the Budget represents private industry versus public sector, employer against employee. One cannot have well-funded public services if there is no private industry to pay for them; one cannot have high employment rates if there are no private business to spur job creation; and one cannot have economic growth if private investment is driven out of this country.

This Budget has brought businesses more complexity and uncertainty. As a consequence of last Wednesday’s announcements, businesses in my constituency have already announced recruitment freezes.

By now, the Chancellor will have received my letter, sent yesterday and signed by approximately 40 Members of this House and the other place, regarding the impact that her new national insurance contributions policy will have on general practitioners, dentists, hospices and care homes. These vital services will be forced to decrease staff numbers, thereby creating further pressures on the NHS and public services.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. [Interruption.] Government Members do not like to hear this.

Not when an intervention is happening. Every Labour Government in history have ended with higher unemployment than when they began. From the look of these measures, does it not seem that this one will be exactly the same?

Order. Although the hon. Gentleman will be very grateful for the intervention, may I remind Members that time is tight?

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his intervention, and I agree with him entirely. I am mindful of the tightness of time, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Will the Chancellor reconsider the exemption list, to protect the vital services I mentioned, much as she reconsidered when it came to VAT on continuity of education allowance payments? We all understand how much money the Chancellor hopes to raise, but I ask today that she sets out a realistic plan to raise the money. What is her plan to grow the economy? GDP growth predictions are lower than inflation rise predictions, which effectively means the economy shrinking over the next five years.

Finally, I ask the Minister to set a firm date for the publication of the Government industrial strategy, so that businesses have stability, rather than being on the receiving end of the Chancellor’s smash-and-grab tax raid.

Let me welcome the first Labour Budget in 14 years, and the first ever delivered by a woman. The Budget’s positive interventions for Bassetlaw have the vibe of the late, great, Ian Dury’s song, “Reasons to be Cheerful”. The song has wonderful lyrics listing the joys in life; it was written in response to his band mate surviving a brutal electric shock. Well, this Budget is Labour’s response to the shock of the Truss mini-Budget, and 14 years of neglect and no economic plan.

In Bassetlaw, we now have significant support for UK fusion energy research to build on the UK’s position as global leader in sustainable energy. Building the first fusion power plant in Bassetlaw will take us to the next generation of carbon-neutral energy creation, providing huge opportunities to develop talent, skills, local jobs and wealth, and to build on business.

The massive injection of funds into the NHS means that the waiting lists at Bassetlaw hospital will be tackled head-on, with a crack team from London hospitals going in to get our operating theatres open seven days a week, and driving those waiting times down. People are waiting too long for the operations that they desperately need. They want to be in work and bringing home a wage. That is central to rebuilding our economy and lifting people out of poverty. This is our Government putting joined-up thinking into action.

I welcome the fact that in Bassetlaw, 2,500 retired mineworkers will see their pensions go up by £30 a week, as we deliver on our manifesto commitment, but it does not end there: our Government will continue to review surplus sharing arrangements, and I call for this to include those retired miners in my area who are in the scheme for supervisors and overseers. They cannot be ignored. They paid into an identical scheme and they deserve equal treatment.

When Bassetlaw people told me that they were too scared to go into our town centres, I promised that I would take action. I welcome the funding to crack down on the organised gangs that target retailers. I welcome, too, the Government scrapping the law that gives immunity for low-value shoplifting—an immunity granted by the Conservative Government in 2014.

The Tories talked the talk, but they did not walk the walk. They were all hot air, promises and no delivery. Whether it is the challenge of getting a GP or a dentist appointment, the challenge of sorting out the funding for flood alleviation schemes in Retford and Worksop, or the failure to stop Doncaster airport closing, the Tories have left it to Labour to pick up the pieces, to sort out their mess and to get Britain back on course.

I congratulate all of today’s maiden speakers on their excellent contributions.

In her Budget statement last week, the Chancellor announced a £1 billion increase for special educational needs and disabilities. Any additional funding is of course very welcome, especially in Surrey, where the SEND system is in crisis, but it is important to put that figure in context. Estimates suggests that the national SEND budget is running an annual deficit of £4 billion, rising to nearly £6 billion in 2025. The whole system is being saved from complete collapse thanks only to a statutory override—an accountancy trick that allows councils to keep these deficits off their books until March 2026. What happens after that no one yet knows, but the National Audit Office has warned that the UK’s SEND system teeters on the brink of collapse.

Surrey county council alone is carrying an eye-watering £118 million SEND deficit, so while the Chancellor’s additional £1 billion investment may sound promising, it really only buys a little time. A few weeks ago, I spent a morning with a group of nearly 70 parents, each of whom has a child or children with special educational needs. Many of those children have been unable to attend school for months, and in some cases years, due to the lack of an appropriate setting or support. Parents are being forced into becoming full-time carers, with one or both parents giving up paid employment to take on caring responsibilities. Each year, thousands of private and public sector workers are lost from the economy because SEND provision is failing children and parents alike.

Parents tell me that when they are not educating their children, they work late into the night administering appeals processes, gathering evidence for tribunals, and seeking help from charities and agencies that might just help to unlock the broken SEND system for them. That is the daily pattern for many thousands of households across the country, yet the experience can feel crushingly lonely. The SEND system pulls working people out of their careers and out of the workforce, while permanently limiting the life and career chances of children with incredible potential. Those human and economic costs are barely accounted for in the Government’s budget-setting.

If this is indeed a Government who prioritise economic growth and seek to invest in working people, I encourage them to see reform and proper funding of special educational needs as a vital component of their national mission.

When I was out knocking on doors and listening to fellow residents at the weekend, many people in Winterbourne said how pleased they were to see us begin the change that has been so desperately needed by so many for so long. From our NHS and our schools to our industry and our roads, this Labour Budget is focused on fixing the foundations, delivering change that matters, and rebuilding Britain. After 14 years of decline and neglect, simple things have become much harder than they should be, and although people know that it will take time to deliver the scale of change that Britain needs, we now have funding for 40,000 more NHS appointments a week, and money to rebuild schools that are crumbling around our children and to start to improve SEND support, so that every child can thrive, and to make life fairer for carers who look after loved ones. This is a Labour Government delivering as promised.

The Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency is a rich tapestry of towns and villages that have strong local character and great national and international impact. I am proud that our communities are at the heart of aerospace in the UK. We are the home of both Concorde and the future of flight, and major companies, supported by brilliant SMEs, are innovating every day to reduce emissions and lead the way in British enterprise. I know that local people will join me in welcoming our Government’s investment of £975 million in the aerospace sector in the Budget. That will fund vital research and development for the latest aerospace technology in our region and beyond. That is important because rebuilding Britain is also about restoring Britain’s leadership and place on the world stage. We have a strong defence sector locally, including MOD Abbey Wood, so I welcome the £2.9 billion uplift in defence funding, in addition to the funding for Ukraine for as long as it is needed. Our support must never waver.

As the first ever woman to represent my constituency, I note what an important moment it was to see the first woman Chancellor in our country’s history stand to deliver the Budget. Representation matters, as does delivering change.

This Budget does what our new Labour Government were elected to do: it sets the path for rebuilding Britain. I look forward to supporting those efforts on behalf of my community, who elected me to deliver that change.

Certainly, the Budget has been on the minds of many of my constituents. It was even a topic of conversation with the owner of Gurkha Sunkoshi when I collected an Indian takeaway last night. I will say more about the impact on small businesses such as his shortly, but let me start with the positives.

It is certainly excellent to see the Government commit to NHS investment, which has been the subject of a key Liberal Democrat campaign, including in my constituency. I also welcome the compensation for victims of the infected blood and Post Office Horizon scandals. I agree with colleagues who have highlighted the point that the increase in carer’s allowance and SEND provision is welcome, but does not go far enough.

Nevertheless, there is much cause for concern for my constituents, particularly small business owners. GP and dental surgeries are concerned about rising costs as a result of increases to employer national insurance contributions and the minimum wage. Alas, so far, they have not received assurances of additional funding to match the liabilities that they will face. Of course, they run the risk of needing to reduce staff recruitment or even lay off staff, which could add to pressures on the local health service.

The same issue applies to the wider small business and high-tech sectors in my constituency—including Indian restaurants. My constituency has been assessed by the Startup Coalition as No. 16 in the country for new businesses, not least thanks to our high-tech business parks: Milton park, Culham campus and the Harwell science and innovation campus. Those businesses will be worried about the ability to grow because of the costs that they face. Many of my colleagues have highlighted concerns about the proposed family farm tax. The Liberal Democrats call for an extra £1 billion a year in support for farming communities.

It is on transport policy that the Budget most disappoints. Perhaps, given the proposed increase in the bus fare cap and the above-inflation increases to rail fares, the Government are under the impression that working families only use cars. A season ticket from Didcot in my constituency to London, plus travelcard, already costs around £7,000 a year. Those policies undermine the Government’s stated objectives on economic growth, climate change and reducing congestion. I also regret that there is no commitment to local rail schemes in my constituency, such as a new station at Wantage and Grove, and electrification between Didcot and Oxford.

Today’s election result in the United States emphasises the importance of managing the economy and public services so that people feel listened to and supported. My fear is that some of the Budget measures will have the opposite effect, but I genuinely wish the Government success, and hope that they will listen to and address the many concerns raised by the Budget.

I congratulate hon. Members who have delivered maiden speeches today on their thoughtful contributions.

This Budget marks the end of an era of austerity inflicted by the Conservative party over the past 14 years, during which time take-home pay was cut to the bone and our public services almost reached existential crisis. In Scotland, we had the trouble of two failing Governments. The SNP promised Scandinavian-type public services, while the Conservative party promised North American levels of taxation. The result was broken public services and a complete misuse of taxpayer money.

I am proud of many things in the Budget, but I am most proud that next April the national minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour. That will lift the earnings of 200,000 people in Scotland and 3,000 people in my Glasgow South West constituency. This Labour Government will ensure that work pays, and that it is secure and dignified.

The Budget continues and increases direct investment in Scotland through the innovation accelerators programme, which supports 11 projects in Glasgow. It also establishes Brand Scotland, and supports Scottish trade abroad by contributing £750,000 to the Scotland Office. This is the biggest uplift in Scotland’s funding through Barnett consequentials since the beginning of devolution in 1999, with £3.4 billion of additional funding. Within that funding, Labour has increased the overall education budget by 3.5% in real terms and increased local government funding by 3.2%, so SNP-run Glasgow city council has no excuse to be cutting 450 teaching posts over the next three years. It must not rob young Glaswegians of their future, because theirs is the contribution that will make our economy grow.

Conservative Members used to tell us frequently that they believed in Britain, and SNP Members—conspicuous by their absence today—used to tell us that they were stronger for Scotland. What better embodiment of strength and of that belief than investing in our infrastructure and our people? We on the Labour Benches have made our decision; it is now up to them whether they back Britain or not.

In this Budget debate, I am going to focus on the massive disconnect between the Government’s talk about growth and investment and what the OBR considers will be the outcome. Sadly, we can want something and talk about it, but if we do not enact the policies, we are not going to get it. That will hit everybody across the country really hard, particularly the most vulnerable. I am seeing that reality in my constituency, where a lot of employers are relocating plants abroad to the EU, rather than relocating and growing those jobs in the UK. That is not just happening in my constituency: very likely, it is happening in every other Member’s constituency as well. That is a huge problem for our public services, which are ultimately underwritten by our taxes.

As a result of this Budget, real private consumption as a share of GDP is set to fall by 0.4% by 2029, and real business investment is set to fall by 0.6%. It is not me saying that: it is the OBR. That is very different from what the Secretary of State has told us. It leaves real GDP growth lower in the outer years, in the 2027-29 forecast—again, not my words, but the OBR’s. As per OBR data, Brexit is cutting our long-run productivity by 4%, and is cutting the overall trade intensity of our economy by 15% in the long term. The UK has a free option to boost economic growth at zero fiscal cost by restoring a closer economic relationship with Europe. However, although not a single person on Labour’s Front Bench even voted to leave the EU, we find ourselves with a Government supporting daft Conservative economic policies that nobody in the country voted for, such as remaining outside the customs union and the single market.

Even before Trump’s win today, we as a country could not afford to be taking these wrong decisions. Continuing to do so, wilfully and in direct contradiction of the facts, is neglectful and shows a disregard for the wellbeing of our country. I urge the Government to change course.

This Budget was about rebuilding Britain after 14 years of incompetence, negligence and chaos. Conservative Members—all four of them who are left in the Chamber today—cannot even bring themselves to apologise for the inheritance that they left, not just to our Government but to the country as a whole. They should have spent the past few months reflecting on why, as we can see before us, the country rejected them so profoundly. Instead, they engaged in yet more infighting and asked people not to believe their own eyes. Even now, they tell people that the economy has never had it so good—that they should ignore their depleted bank accounts, the increased mortgage rates they have to pay, and the state of our high streets. They talk as if our hospitals and our schools were not left to crumble; as if they did not savage local government finances and the services so many people rely on; and as if the criminal justice system had not been pushed to the point of ruin. Even when they admit to the desperate state of mental health, special educational needs, dentistry, social care, homelessness and poverty, they talk as if those things had nothing to do with them. It is always someone else’s fault.

This Budget ends the cycle of Conservative decline and restores hope that things can get better. Just like our NHS, Britain might have been broken by the Conservatives, but we are not yet beaten. That is underlined by the choices this Budget makes—not always easy, but necessary: the choice to protect pensions with the triple lock, the choice not to raise national insurance, income tax and VAT for working people, the choice to unfreeze income tax thresholds so that people have more money in their pockets, the choice to increase carer’s allowance, the choice to raise the minimum wage to record levels, the choice to fund thousands of new homes for families in towns such as Ipswich and far beyond, and the choice to start rebuilding our NHS, our schools and our infrastructure. Those are the choices we have made to fix the foundations of the economy and our public services, to invest in Britain’s future and to deliver the change that people voted for.

I return to a specific issue that has been mentioned many times in this debate, special educational needs. That is now very much a national crisis, but it is one that we have been battling in Suffolk for the best part of a decade. A £1 billion injection into SEND is much needed as our Government look to repair a broken system starved of funding, resources and focus. No, money alone will not solve the multitude of issues facing families desperately trying to get the support their children need—we need bold and wide-ranging reforms too—but new specialist staff and places do not come free, and unfunded reforms are a complete non-starter. SEND cannot be treated as a Cinderella service any longer. The new funding is a much-needed statement of intent from this Government, and one that will be welcomed by families in Ipswich and Suffolk and across the country.

This first Budget is about cleaning up the mess of the last 14 years—five Prime Ministers and seven Chancellors—and repairing Britain’s foundations. It is about investing in Britain and backing it to succeed, and ensuring that when we need public services, they are there for us. It is an important first step. But my goodness, the Conservative party have made an incredible mess.

During the general election campaign, my team and I spoke to thousands of people across Telford. Every conversation was about decay—our crumbling NHS, the struggles of our education system and the breaking of our council services, the fact that we do not see enough police officers on our streets, high streets in need of support, a SEND system that is letting children down, roads and transport systems that do not work for working people—I could go on. There was a real sense that the Government had given up on governing and made many people believe that there was no hope, and that decline and doom, chaos and corruption was the norm.

This first Budget is a watershed moment. It marks the return to a state that cares about making sure people can get the medical treatment they need when they need it, that they feel safe on our local streets and that they can afford housing. The contrast between the hope that this Budget offers and the bleak future I described under the Conservatives is striking.

I am particularly pleased that this Budget has delivered a real-terms funding increase of more than 3% for local government next year. Before I came to this place, I was a council leader and the chair of the cross-party Local Government Association—I declare an interest on the basis that I am now the honorary vice-president of that organisation. Every councillor, regardless of political persuasion, will talk about the last 14 years, with councils of all political stripes going bankrupt almost every single year. The LGA has called this Budget

“a step in the right direction”,

but after 14 years of stumbling in the wrong direction, it is just the start of a long journey back. That journey must start with the reforms of local government. The Government recognise the urgent need to give local government leaders more skin in the game, and I look forward to seeing more reforms in that regard.

Like other hon. Members, I welcome the fact that the national living wage is increasing, which will impact 4,000 people in my constituency. This Budget is pro-growth, pro-business, pro-worker, pro-family, pro-public sector, and it is giving people a Britain they can be proud of.

This Budget truly marks an historic shift, with real steps to rebuild Britain for lasting change. After 14 years of Conservative mismanagement this Budget brings hope, with a commitment to rebuild and restore fairness for working families, essential workers and vulnerable communities.

I am especially pleased that the Budget has put working people at the forefront by increasing the national living wage and ensuring that they will not face higher taxes in their payslips. That will benefit thousands of working families in Erdington who have been hit hardest by rising costs, stagnant wages and insecure work. The food banks at Six Ways church and Spitfire Support Services are heartbreaking reminders of the last Government’s legacy, but now hard-working people are finally getting the fair pay they deserve.

As a nurse of 25 years, I am deeply heartened by the commitment to our NHS. Years of underfunding have left it struggling, and the Budget’s £25.6 billion investment is a lifeline, promising timely, quality care. That funding will help to reduce the painful waiting lists that have left many in my constituency suffering as they wait months, if not years, for essential care.

Community safety is also a priority. Traders on Erdington High Street have spoken about the rise in low-value shoplifting. I am grateful that the Government have pledged to scrap immunity for such crimes, restoring accountability and safety.

Education is the foundation of a fairer society. The Budget’s investment in the core schools budget and free breakfast clubs is exactly what our schools need in order to support young people and prepare them for success.

Today we reject the chaos and cuts of the past. This Budget restores integrity, fairness and hope, offering a path that allows us to invest in people, protect families and rebuild communities for a stronger Britain. I am proud to support a Budget that works for Erdington, Kingstanding, Castle Vale and South Oscott and for every community that deserves better.

The mission of any Budget should be to ensure that the needs of all people in this country are met and to shape our economy towards that end. After 14 years of Conservative-led Governments, working-class people do not have the standard of living they deserve. The Tories have pushed children into poverty, normalised low-paid, insecure work and increased economic inequality. Meanwhile, the public sector has been decimated by austerity. While the rich pay to go private, millions of people are stuck on NHS waiting lists, their pain increasing and their quality of life diminishing.

So I welcome a Budget that includes higher spending for public services and that funds our NHS and our schools. The increase to the minimum wage and carer’s allowance will make a tangible difference to many people’s lives. The injustices of the mineworkers’ pension scheme will finally be rectified, benefiting thousands of former miners across Nottinghamshire. And there is more—but there are also elements of this Budget that worry me.

Disabled people fear that the target of delivering savings through reforms to the disability benefits system will mean that people are excluded from the support they need. It is shameful that people have been forced into poverty by the welfare cuts of previous Governments; some have even lost their lives thanks to a system that, all too often, seeks to punish rather than to help.

We must do things differently. We must fund a social security net that gives everyone, whether in work or not, the resources they need to live a decent life. We must also prioritise ending child poverty, as previous Labour Governments have, so I am disappointed the Chancellor has not moved to scrap the inhumane two-child benefit limit.

Meanwhile, the richest 1% of Britons have £2.8 trillion between them. Although the Budget will modestly increase their contribution to our public finances, we must go further to make the super-rich pay their fair share. We should introduce a wealth tax, taxing earnings from wealth at the same rate as wages.

I am confident that this Budget takes important steps to deliver change, but is it at the scale we need after the devastation caused by the Conservative party? I am not so sure. I say that not to undermine the Budget, which stands in welcome contrast to the last 14 years, but to push for even greater ambition, because the job of a Back-Bench Government MP is to tell their party when it needs to go further.

Trump’s election is a warning to us here: if people do not see their lives improve, the populist right stands to benefit. So let us build on the good work our Government have started in the first 100 days, ensure that every person has a decent standard of living and tackle the inequality that continues to blight our society.

As the Business Secretary and many hon. Friends have said, the central mission of this Government is to get the economy growing after years of stagnation. Fourteen years of poor economic management and short-term decision making are writ large in my town centre in Bournemouth West and in high streets up and down the country, as my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) set out so powerfully. We see this in our creaking infrastructure and the crumbling schools that my hon. Friend the Member for Kettering (Rosie Wrighting) mentioned and the pothole-ridden streets we drive our cars on. While the public made their views on the state of the country very clear on 4 July, the Conservative party seems still to be in denial. This Budget gives us the opportunity to turn a page, fix the foundations and rebuild our country.

I welcome the Business Secretary and Chancellor’s focus on investment. My constituency of Bournemouth West is a microcosm of the UK’s diverse economy. Just last week I visited a new manufacturing plant whose products have “Made in Britain” proudly branded all over them. We have a vibrant retail, hospitality and leisure sector and while there are some concerns about rising costs it is given confidence by the Government’s focus on growth and getting money back into people’s pockets. We have strong education and finance sectors and a burgeoning tech and creative industry sector, and I was pleased to see support for these industries reflected in our industrial strategy, giving them certainty over the long term.

Underpinning all of this are our people. This Government’s Budget will benefit the 8,300 people in my constituency on the minimum wage and the 1,880 people in receipt of, or eligible for, carer’s allowance, and the 30% of children who live in poverty and their families will benefit from the investment in our schools, hospitals and affordable homes to live in. Healthier, happier and more secure workers and constituents are good for business; it is good for growth and good for our economy.

I wish to make one point on infrastructure. My hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) mentioned that when we knock on doors people always bring up our public services and the NHS, and they do, but every good constituency MP knows that potholes are the bane of everybody’s life, so I welcome the £500 million for potholes announced in the Budget.

We cannot achieve sustainable growth without a solid foundation with stable public finances and public services that benefit everybody. This is what we are doing with this Budget and I look forward to supporting it today.

Several of the previous speakers, including the hon. Members for Solihull West and Shirley (Dr Shastri-Hurst), for East Wiltshire (Danny Kruger) and for Witney (Charlie Maynard), expressed concerns about growth and productivity and I hope to draw on my previous experience working in industry to set their minds at rest, but we first need to acknowledge the dire starting point and the damage done both to our economy and to business confidence by the last Government.

I know from my time spent in industry that over the last decade and a half our country has lost out in the race for international investment from a combination of political uncertainty and a long-standing indifference to industrial policy. I listened carefully to the words of the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Rupert Lowe) and I think he must have read a different Budget from me. The Budget I read committed us to public sector investment of over £100 billion over five years, which along with our modern industrial strategy sets the scale of the Government’s ambition for increasing prosperity and security across the whole of our country.

Several Members, including the hon. Members for Wimbledon (Mr Kohler), for Tunbridge Wells (Mike Martin) and for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover), mentioned small businesses. These are the very businesses which stand to benefit from our industrial strategy as our new approach to industry and manufacturing sees the private sector crowding in investment, producing well-paid jobs and exports that will support our small businesses in supply chains. This will also reverse the tide of deindustrialisation, a frankly bizarre policy of inaction enacted by Conservative Governments over many years that has left much of our industry, including steel, chemicals and ceramics, mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (David Williams), at a serious disadvantage.

It seems clear that to grow our economy we need to boost productivity and simply build more factories, but I know as an advocate of industrial strategy that this position is not a settled one, particularly in the party opposite. That is in big contrast to the collaborative approach of this Government, who work pragmatically with business leaders. We have heard some warm words from Conservatives about industrial strategy, including from Opposition Front Benchers, but they perhaps have not had time to consult with their new leader, the right hon. Member for North West Essex (Mrs Badenoch), who has described such policies as part of the law of diminishing returns.

Having seen my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business and Trade secure £63 billion of private sector investment, we can be sure, to borrow a metaphor from the right hon. Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison), that had their goose not been cooked at the last election, returns would most certainly have been the diminished.

This Budget will be of benefit to my constituents in Stockton, Billingham and Norton who value well-paid industrial and manufacturing sector jobs. I can understand the confusion of the right hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart)—he is not used to a Government who deliver on their manifesto—but this Government are determined to do that. We will release the finances required to restore the public services that the people of Britain deserve and only a Labour Government can deliver.

People in my constituency of Altrincham and Sale West voted for change at the last election, and last week the Chancellor delivered a Budget to start changing their lives for the better. As Members from all parts of the House have reflected, the first Labour Budget in 14 years comes at a time of challenging economic circumstances, with the £22 billion black hole in the public finances, 14 years of sluggish economic growth, a massive squeeze on living standards, creaking national infrastructure and public services on the floor. Our first female Chancellor has never been one to back away from a challenge, and despite the dire inheritance left to her, there was so much in our Budget that will change our country and the lives of my constituents for the better, be it our record investment in the national health service, our pay rise for 3 million low-paid workers, funding for breakfast clubs in every primary school and our £1 billion lifeline for special educational needs provision. That will be transformative for families in Altrincham and Sale West.

As I said in my maiden speech, my constituency is also a place of business, full of thriving smaller enterprises that offer so much to our local economy and culture. That is why it is so important that even in the face of the dire economic circumstances we inherited, the Budget ensured that smaller firms—those least able to shoulder additional costs—have been protected. Some 865,000 employers now will not pay any national insurance next year and more than 1 million will pay the same or less than they did previously. The Budget enables those firms to employ four national living wage workers full-time without paying national insurance on their wages at all by more than doubling the employment allowance. For the small businesses that make up the high streets and market of my constituency, that change will make a huge difference. I am pleased that the Federation of Small Businesses has welcomed our changes to the employment allowance as a huge help for small firms.

There is still much to do, but this Budget starts to turn the corner, fixing the foundations of our economy to deliver a brighter future. It accepts the huge challenges we face, but is optimistic about our ability to overcome them. This Budget sets out a serious path to rebuilding Britain for the benefit of our people and my constituents.

This is a truly landmark Budget, not only for its glass ceiling smashing—I sincerely hope that the girls and young women in my constituency will be inspired to see the first female Chancellor for England after 800 years—but because it provides the basis for a clean break from the race to the bottom, trickle-down economic drivel, riddled with vested interests, to which the Conservatives have subjected the country for the past 14 years, with austerity, recession, dodgy personal protective equipment contracts and economic collapse. The public should never forgive and never forget what the Conservatives have done to our country.

This Budget marks an end to using public finances and the British people as guinea pigs in an economic experiment that sent interest rates and mortgage rates soaring and living standards plummeting and saw families gripped in the vice-like clutch of the Conservatives’ cost of living crisis. When I listened to the response of the former Leader of the Opposition—it is hard to keep up—it was crystal clear to me that the born-to-rule Conservatives simply have not understood that they are not ruling any more. I only wanted to hear one word from the former Leader of the Opposition: sorry. That word never came.

As someone with over 30 years of private sector experience, I am getting a bit bored of the trope that no one on this side of the House has any private sector experience—

What about on the Front Bench?

The right hon. Gentleman asks about the Government Front Bench. I appreciate that a large proportion of Conservative MPs now serve on the Front Bench; that begs a question about the quality of the people left behind.

On the one hand the Budget places desperately needed money in the hands of the lowest-paid workers, where it will be spent locally, and on the other hand it heralds a new era of much-needed infrastructure investment—the kind that will stimulate growth in the economy and thousands of new jobs across the country, based on a coherent industrial strategy. It sets us on a course to rebuild depleted public services and lays the foundations for the pillars of a decade of economic and social renewal.

The Budget recognises the importance of the shared prosperity fund, which the Conservatives wanted to scrap to pay for their hare-brained national service plan —a decision that would have been devastating for the people of Cornwall, as well as for many other communities around the UK. The Budget places British workers at its heart—those same British workers who rejected the failed economic experiments of the Conservatives, along with the chaos, infighting and fiscal incompetence. They voted decisively for stability and security—a sea change from the previous 14 years. They voted for change; this Budget delivers it.

I start by thanking Members across the House for their well wishes, and I give my sincere thanks to the Metropolitan police officers who were with me till the early hours of Tuesday morning—they were brilliant and a credit to the force.

Labour is the party for working people and the Chancellor’s Budget has confirmed that. With the increase in the national living wage, thousands of people in Blackpool South, where work is often precarious, are set to receive a 6.7% pay rise. Our 18 to 20-year-olds will see their wages increase by 16.3%, which is a huge boost for young people in my home town, who often face barriers to opportunity and well-paid work.

Much of the work available to my constituents is in hospitality and tourism. As the leading voice and chair of the all-party parliamentary group for hospitality and tourism, I am proud that I can now represent Blackpool’s voice with this platform. Blackpool’s tourism economy is valued at £1.7 billion a year and supports more than 22,000 jobs. We deserve a seat at the table. Like many British seaside resorts, Blackpool faced significant periods of decline in the latter half of the last century. But unlike others, our tourism trade never collapsed.

My home town has adapted and reinvented itself. We are now on the cusp of a new era of growth, in which our economic development can help to tackle our social problems by improving lives and inspiring pride in the place that we call home. In 2022, Blackpool’s tourism figures topped the 20 million mark and accounted for more than 30% of all visits to Lancashire. Well after the summer season is over, we are welcoming 4,500 tourists a day, adding £200,000 to the local economy daily.

Just as Blackpool is an outlier in most statistics, businesses there operate in a unique economy that is traditionally seasonal, with low per capita spend per visitor. I welcome the Chancellor’s move to permanently lower business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure, and the decision to extend some business rate relief to next year to avoid the cliff edge that businesses faced thanks to the previous Government.

But I know that businesses in my constituency are hoping for more reassurance from the Government. Those businesses include grassroots music venues such as the Bootleg Social, which is already fighting to keep its doors open, but makes a huge contribution to our cultural landscape in Blackpool. I have reassured business owners in Blackpool that the Government’s approach to the economy is both pro-worker and pro-business, but I would welcome the opportunity to discuss with the Government the individual circumstances of small businesses in my constituency.

The tourism and hospitality sector in Blackpool welcomes investment in our town’s transport, to make the town more accessible and fit for the future. I am grateful to the Chancellor for supporting towns like mine. The Conservatives left behind a huge economic mess for Labour to clear up, but we are the party of working people and we are getting on with that job.

I congratulate all hon. Members who have made their maiden speeches today. The economic inheritance from the last 14 years could hardly have been any worse. Conservative Governments have serially undermined our public services: they stripped them of funding, made it harder to deliver and demoralised dedicated public servants. The impact of their political choices could not have been clearer. In multiple crises, which spanned from our NHS and social care to local authority services, schools, prisons, policing and criminal justice, housing and universities, instead of reinvesting to rebuild, they promised billions of pounds of entirely unfunded tax cuts in a desperate bid to cling on to power. They have been the vandals of our public services and our economy, and they have left this new Labour Government with a colossal and daunting task to restore and rebuild.

I welcome the Budget, which seeks to fix the foundations and begin the restoration that is needed. I regret that the actions of the previous Government mean that the road to recovery is so long. The additional £1 billion in the Budget for SEND is as welcome as it is essential. The crisis in the SEND system is the biggest current challenge in the education system, with far-reaching consequences for children and families who are being let down, schools that cannot meet the needs of their pupils, and local authorities that are being driven to the edge of bankruptcy by the costs. I urge the Government to ensure that SEND remains at the forefront of discussions in the comprehensive spending review, because £1 billion, while welcome, is only a third of the current in-year deficit in the SEND budget. The statutory override, which protects local authority general fund accounts from SEND deficits, is due to come to an end in March 2026, and local authorities will soon need certainty about what will happen after that date. Without a clear plan, more local authorities will be issuing section 114 notices—that is not something that the Government can allow to happen.

As a constituency MP, I want to use my remaining time to raise two other issues arising from the Budget. The additional funding for the NHS is desperately needed. The allocation for individual areas and health trusts has not yet been made. I want to make a particular plea for capital funding for King’s College hospital. King’s is currently facing severe financial challenges, which it is working hard to address, but that is made harder by a lack of funding for the essential equipment that staff need to increase productivity and deliver the services that patients need.

Finally, while the additional injection of £100 million for social housing in London and changes to the regulations on right to buy are welcome, the crisis in London is so deep that the Government must turn their attention to the local housing allowance, which must keep pace with rents in London to avoid even more families being forced into temporary accommodation, with knock-on consequences for local authority budgets.

The Budget seeks to fix the foundations and undo the damage that the Conservatives have done. There is much more to do, but the Budget is a very welcome first step on the road. I am pleased to vote for it today.

This is a Budget that answers the call made by many of the constituents I spoke to during the general election. It is a Budget for change: change for our national health service, change in the living standards of working people and change to our declining investment in infrastructure. Yes, there were tough decisions; we on the Government Benches do not shy away from that fact. The key difference between this Government’s approach and that of our predecessor for the last 14 years is that we simply refuse to place the burden of those tough choices on the backs of working families.

There has been lots of talk about business during the debate, but the Opposition do business a disservice, as if the only thing that business cares about is the tax bill. Businesses also rely on a functioning health service, a quality education system and investment in our broken infrastructure. They also rely on their customers having money in their pockets to spend in the local economy. I am, therefore, delighted to see a transformational uplift in the minimum wage, which will positively impact thousands of workers in my constituency of Crewe and Nantwich.

I welcome also the commitment to extending High Speed 2 to Euston and the recognition that spending on major infrastructure does not merely carry a cost to the taxpayer but has the potential to pay back to society through economic growth and wider societal benefits. It is imperative that we now turn our focus towards delivering a solution between Birmingham and Manchester. The Birmingham to Crewe leg of the original HS2 project was due to return £1.91 for every £1 spent. I welcome the Government’s new approach to infrastructure investment, and I look forward to working with them to realise the potential of my constituency as a transport hub.

My constituents did not elect a Labour Government to continue the failed, miserable image of the future projected by the Conservative party—a future where public services can only decline, where growth flatlines and where the only figures rising are debt, destitution and the number of failed Prime Ministers in a single Parliament. They voted for change, and that is what this Government delivers, so I commend the Budget to the House.

I am proud to stand up on behalf of my constituents in Calder Valley and thank this Government for the Budget delivered by our Chancellor—a Budget that rebuilds the country and protects the NHS. As someone who spent eight years in local government before coming to this place, I recognise some of the huge steps that this Budget takes to cement local government, guaranteeing funding for high street projects like those in Calder Valley, and ending the beauty contests that see communities pitted against one another for meagre funding. There was £600 million guaranteed for social care and a commitment to longer-term, proper funding for our highways and the scourge of potholes. Most importantly, we get three-year funding settlements—no more annual scrabble in December to work out how to make a budget fit. Local authorities and businesses can plan long-term, which is what they want, and it is the stability that we need.

It has been quite something to sit through this Budget debate for the past few days, because it seems like there have been two Budgets. One was delivered by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which fixed our foundations, supported hospitality and the high street, provided billions for the NHS, found funding for SEND and opened breakfast clubs. Then, there has been the Budget that exists in the imagination of Opposition Members. Today, the Leader of the Opposition claimed that it did not mention the word “defence”. The speech mentions it six times, and the Budget has a whole section in the funding settlement for defence.

Today, we heard from the hon. Members for Solihull West and Shirley (Dr Shastri-Hurst) and for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Dr Johnson) about the problems of social care. That should not be a new concern for Conservative Members. Andrew Dilnot released his report in 2011. We were then promised that we would get some kind of proposal in 2014. In 2017, the Conservative Government released their proposal, but then withdrew it because they had an election. They then delayed it in 2018. It came back in 2021 and was delayed again in 2022. Then they said that they would deliver it in 2024, but did not find the funding.

Throughout all that, there has not been a shred of contrition or acknowledgment from the Conservatives that they left the country on its knees. They have no idea yet why the public rejected them so resoundingly at the last election. I hope that as they sum up, they will perhaps show some contrition and answer the Budget as it is, not the one that exists only in their imagination.

I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. My wife is employed as a special educational needs co-ordinator in one of our local authority schools.

My constituents in Bexleyheath and Crayford have been clear: they want a country and community where public services work and the economy is growing. Our Government have been bequeathed an inheritance of 14 years of low to no growth, the impact of the Conservatives’ Kamikaze mini-Budget and the £22 billion black hole left in the public finances. This Budget invests in public services—the OBR has outlined that the direct effect of policy changes in this Budget is the largest sustained increase in spending in at least the past 15 years.

The path to rebuilding Britain will include building the homes that we need, and I welcome the investment in the affordable homes programme in this Budget to kickstart progress towards 1.5 million new homes over the Parliament. It will include investment in the capacity of local planning authorities. In my local authority in Bexley, applications from the council’s own development company take 15 months to reach committee from submission. If our local economy is to grow, applications need to be determined more quickly than at present.

Phase 1 of the spending review provides record levels of capital investment for health. My local authority’s local plan has identified sites for new homes, but not the sites to deliver the additional local health provision that is required. I will be pressing for this capital investment to deliver a new neighbourhood health centre to help the Government’s objectives.

The Budget delivers £6.7 billion of capital funding for education in England, alongside the increase in funding for the core schools budget. I particularly welcome the £1 billion to support the special educational needs and disabilities system. While we await the detail, my local authority signed a safety valve agreement to avert effective bankruptcy, and, like other authorities we have heard about today, it now faces a ticking time bomb signalling the running out of the statutory override in 2026. Its finances will be boosted by the increased spending power provided in the Budget. It is three years since my Conservative council sought a capitalisation order and made 15% of staff redundant to stave off bankruptcy, and I believe that this Government will work with local authorities to ensure that the impact of austerity is not repeated.

For those reasons, I will be supporting the Budget this evening.

Finally, after 14 years of patching up, we have a Budget that puts down the first bricks as we start to rebuild our country. With this Budget we will be able to start to put the NHS back on its feet with a £25 billion boost, provide a shot in the arm for our schools with extra funding including £1 billion for SEND, and invest in our transport and energy infrastructure.

On a local level, the Budget contains positives for my constituency and for Cornwall more widely. Local transport in rural areas will receive £650 million, and the Chancellor named Cornwall in particular as an area that will benefit directly in terms of connectivity. The freeze in fuel duty, and fixing those potholes, will help people who still have to rely on their cars in rural areas such as ours. We are also getting some solutions for our housing crisis with a stamp duty rise of up to 5% for second home buyers, which should lead to more houses on the market for local people. The Budget provides extra money for councils to build affordable and social housing, as well as limiting the discounts on selling off council houses and changing the rules so that councils can build more social housing with the proceeds.

I am pleased that Cornwall Council has been supported with extra funding, although I do want to raise the case of the other councils—such as town and parish councils—that have taken on so many of the services of which the unitary authorities have divested themselves, and as a consequence are often large employers with big budgets. I am also pleased that the important shared prosperity funding for Cornwall has been extended for another year at a national figure of £900 million, so that all the investment in schemes to get people into work and into Cornish businesses can continue. However, I should like to hear confirmation that the funding formula continues to recognise the huge loss that Cornwall suffered when we lost the EU structural funding.

The Government are also boosting public investment, and next year will publish a new industrial strategy setting out high-growth areas where the UK has real competitive advantage. Some of the areas ripe for investment will be renewables, technology, food, and the creative industries, in which Cornwall has real strengths. In my constituency we look forward particularly to investment in floating offshore wind in the Celtic sea and in ports such as Falmouth, as well as investment in our vital creative arts.

Our Chancellor has chosen the bold path to save and rebuild the NHS, schools and other public services and invest in the country’s infrastructure, while also ensuring that people do not face higher taxes in their pay packets. This is a big Budget of renewal, which will set us on the road to recovery.

I congratulate the Chancellor on delivering the first Labour Budget in 15 years, and on doing so as the first ever female Chancellor.

Speaking to residents in and around the Stocklake area of my constituency over the weekend, I was glad to hear positive feedback and optimism following the Budget. Of course we had to make tough choices, but people get that, and personally I am very proud of the choice we have made to invest in our public services first and foremost and to get them working for people again.

There is much to commend in the Budget, and I want to highlight four points. First, the national minimum wage has increased to £12.21 per hour, which has been very well received by my constituents. Over 9,000 people in Buckinghamshire are on the national living wage, and they are all set for a pay rise. Secondly, the core schools budget has increased by £2.3 billion, and £1 billion has been allocated to support children with SEND, which I know cannot come soon enough for my constituents. Thirdly, there is a commitment to infrastructure investment, including the commitment to East West Rail, which I know will unlock growth and opportunity. I will keep pushing for the Aylesbury spur to link up with that. Finally and most importantly, we have made a huge commitment to the NHS in this Budget, including through a £22 billion increase to day-to-day spending and £3.1 billion of capital investment, which will be used to bring waiting lists down, invest in new technology and deliver 40,000 extra appointments every week, including at Stoke Mandeville hospital. I am excited about the budget for mental health, which will be crucial.

I am conscious that improving our nation’s health will take time, and that our goals are necessarily long term. I was reminded of that at this morning’s parliamentary launch of the fantastic Health Equals campaign, which highlights the work that we have to do to tackle the social determinants of health inequalities and halve the gap in healthy life expectancy. However, this Budget delivers the biggest cash injection into the NHS outside covid years since 2010, which has put us firmly on the road to recovery. This Budget is firmly on the side of those who need our support, and firmly on the right side of history, and I cannot wait to see what it delivers for my constituents in Aylesbury.

My constituents go to work to make trains, planes and automobiles at Alstom, Rolls-Royce and Toyota, and they work in their supply chains. This Budget delivers ambitious plans for rail infrastructure, nearly £100 million in R&D funding for aerospace, and £2 billion to support the automotive sector. To get to work, many of my constituents commute; 1.2 billion vehicle miles were travelled on Derby’s roads last year. The fuel duty freeze and the extra half a billion pounds to fix potholes are hugely welcome.

My constituents teach and learn at our great university and schools. They treat others and are treated at the Royal Derby hospital. They work in our shops and restaurants, and on the building sites where the regeneration of our city is taking shape. We in Derby are laying the foundations for growth—literally. Building is under way on a new university business school, a new mental health unit at Kingsway and a new performance venue at Becketwell. At Friar Gate goods yard, which has stood derelict for over 50 years, new homes and businesses are being built. There is also investment in our theatres—£20 million of funding that this Budget underwrites.

We needed and got a Budget that supported our ambitions. Last week, I went from the Budget statement to a meeting of small businesses in my constituency, which was organised by the Federation of Small Businesses. We discussed how this Budget will grow the cake, from investment in skills and reform of business rates to the approval of the east midlands investment zone and start-up loans. This is a Budget that is, at last, honest about the public finances being in a mess, and we have made tough decisions so that our businesses can have the stability and certainty they need.

To rebuild Britain, however, we also need to reset the broken contract with working people. For 14 years, in Budget after Budget, from austerity to Liz Truss’s mini-Budget, working people were barely offered crumbs from the table, while productivity and growth flatlined—but no more. Working people now have a proper seat at the table. The minimum wage will increase from £11.44 to £12.21 an hour next April, which will affect one in 10 Derby North workers. For 18 to 20-year-olds, there will be a 16% increase to £10 an hour. Derby has the second highest average salaries outside London, so for those moving on with their careers, there will be a rise in the income tax and national insurance contributions thresholds from 2028-29. Finally, investment—

Order. I call Sam Rushworth.

The Conservative party was keen for us all to declare our membership of trade unions in the debate on the Employment Rights Bill, so we should probably all declare that most of us received funding from businesses during the general election campaign. I certainly did, and I pay tribute to the small businesses in my constituency. Some 89% of them are considered microbusinesses with fewer than 10 employees, so the majority will pay less national insurance under this Budget. I thank the Chancellor for protecting working people and small businesses.

Listening to Conservative Members, as we have been doing for the past five hours, it seems that many of them see the business community as caring about nothing but quick profits and avoiding tax, but the local businesses that I speak to are proud not only to deliver quality products and services, but to create good jobs and strengthen the local economy. They have been doing that in trying circumstances, and many of them have supported Labour candidates at this election because they want a Government who match their ambition. When I ask them what they want to see from Government, they say they want not only a fair tax system but investment, and that is what this Budget delivers. They want a secure power supply. They also want faster planning decisions, including the young farmer who came to see me because he has been pushed back for two years now in his attempt to just build some pig pens.

The biggest barrier, however, is that businesses cannot get the staff, and this is true from manufacturing to hospitality. Britain is held back by a skills shortage, so I welcome a Budget that will invest in Britain’s most precious, productive asset: her people. When we invest in faster NHS appointments, in emergency dentistry, in mental health, in SEND provision, in specialist teachers in STEM subjects and in childcare, we invest in business too, because these are the people who will rebuild Britain.

The people of Durham have been held back for too long. In the past 14 years, our life expectancy has fallen behind. Our children are shorter, and the number of children in care has increased by 250%, so we can see the impact of austerity in people’s bodies and family life. I welcome a Budget that has brought the end of austerity and begun the long, hard job of rebuilding this country. I also welcome a Budget that has put more money in people’s pockets, including by honouring the triple lock, which the Conservatives failed to do in 2022, costing pensioners in my constituency £488.

We come to the final Back-Bench speaker, Patrick Hurley.

When I stand to speak in this House, I often criticise the former Government, and to be fair, there was a lot to criticise, but Liz Truss at least got one thing right. She claimed to make economic growth the driving force behind her plans, but while Truss took a reckless big-bang approach to tackling the stagnation that this country has experienced since 2010, our focus is on long-term investment, not short-term tax cuts. This speaks to one of many big problems with recent Tory Governments—a problem that any business owner in this country could tell you about. It is all about return on investment. Over the last 14 years, there has been too little return because there has been too little investment. To combat that, we have secured £63 billion in private investment, and we have put £2 billion into electric vehicle development. I note, too, that the UK Space Agency says that the space industry is worth £17 billion a year to our economy. It is no doubt helping to ensure that we get early warning of any new super-massive black holes we might not be aware of.

This Budget is the beginning of the change our country voted for. It will make Britain better off; there will be more money in people’s pockets, an NHS that is there when people need it, businesses creating wealth and opportunity for all, the house building that we need, the transport infrastructure that we are crying out for, wages that make work pay, and a state pension that is uprated as it should have been all along. This is a Budget of change, a Budget of investment and growth, a Budget to put more money in working people’s pockets, and a Budget to get our public services back on their feet. It is the most welcome Budget for many years—a Budget in line with the values of the British people. I am proud to support this Labour Budget.

I call the shadow Minister.

I thank the 67 Back-Bench Members who have spoken in this debate, and I commiserate with the two Labour Members who did not get in. I am sure that they will have their opportunity in future.

I congratulate the four Members who gave their maiden speech: the hon. Members for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell), for Stoke-on-Trent North (David Williams), for Ely and East Cambridgeshire (Charlotte Cane) and for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh). Many in this House will remember their maiden speech and will know how anxious those four Members were before they stood up to speak, and how relieved they were when they reached the end and could sit down. That feeling does not go away.

We end this Budget debate where we began: with the deceit that the Labour party showed to the British public about its intention to launch one of the biggest tax grabs in our history. At the election, Labour Front Benchers toured the country, staging photo ops, snapping cheeky selfies and soliciting reassuring quotes from businesses, farmers and senior citizens, saying to each in turn that they could trust Labour and that a Labour Government would have their back. This Budget of broken promises shows that they have all been conned.

My Conservative colleagues have laid bare, always clearly and frequently with strong feeling, the consequences of the political choices this Labour Government have made with this Budget. Colleagues have spoken on behalf of Britain’s farming families, on behalf of our country’s small businesses, on behalf of parents with children in education, on behalf of GP surgeries and hospices, and, above all, on behalf of the working people they represent, who have been targeted by this Budget.

This is a Budget of choices, and the choices are Labour’s, and theirs alone—their choice to increase taxes, their choice to increase debt, their choice to change the fiscal rules, and their choice to rip up election promise after election promise. Just as the Labour Government have made their choices, today we must start to make our own choices. Our choices are to help the small business owner, to help the aspiring entrepreneur, to help those thinking of using their talents to help build Britain, to help the farmers whose parents and grandparents have toiled in our fields, to help the children who will be turfed out of their schools in the middle of the year—some having no school place to go to—and to protect the workers of Britain who believed what Labour said at the election and who now know they were conned. That is why we will vote against Budget resolutions this evening.

Two groups of people have been clobbered drastically by this Budget, groups who are the cornerstone of our economy. As we have heard throughout these debates, the Labour Government’s decision to increase employers’ national insurance contributions is not only a manifesto breach but a barrier to growth. Sadly, this Labour Government do not understand that there will never be a sustainable public sector without a thriving private sector. The private sector in this country is a delicate fabric of small and medium-sized businesses. Many have been just scraping by for years, but each is spurred on by the endeavour that is the spirit of free enterprise.

Running a small business—Labour Members may want to take a note—is not easy. Our constituents run some 5.4 million small and medium-sized enterprises across the UK, so when the Minister responds, will she explain to those people, in my constituency and across the country, what they are to do in the face of Labour’s jobs tax—the massive increase in employer national insurance contributions? The Office for Budget Responsibility said that the jobs tax would be passed on by “most” firms to their employees through reduced wages; the Resolution Foundation said it will have the biggest proportional impact on low-paid workers; and the Federation of Small Businesses said it will cause “many SMEs” to “struggle”. That is the truth, and a far cry from the warm words the Labour Chancellor offered businesses during the election campaign.

When the Prime Minister, in February this year, looked farmers in the eye and said that they “deserved better”, was he already hatching Labour’s family farm tax? The NFU has said:

“The shameless breaking of those promises on Agricultural Property Relief will snatch away much of the next generation’s ability to carry on producing British food”.

The truth is that the Labour Party does not understand even the basics of farming. Reducing the relief and imposing inheritance tax on farmland will devastate family farms and pose a serious risk to domestic food security and food prices.

Throughout the debate, Labour MPs have sneeringly referred to those farmers as “millionaires”, but many family farmers are not rich. They eke out a modest and—[Interruption.] Labour Members should have been here for the debate. Many family farms eke out a modest and highly uncertain income, year after year. That is why we ask taxpayers each year to subsidise British farmers so they can continue growing food for Britain. The family farm tax is not just taxing farmers; it is taxing Britain’s farmland, the very land we need to grow the food we eat.

This Budget of broken promises sends a series of clear messages: don’t start your own business, because Labour will tax you; don’t have a plan to hire new employees because Labour will tax you; don’t take a risk and expect to keep a reward, because Labour will tax you; don’t invest in the education of your children, because Labour will tax you; and don’t, whatever you do, farm your land to grow British food, because Labour will grind you into that very same ground, and tax you too.

Finally, I say to the Minister that the trust that has been broken in this Budget will not be recovered. People will never forget what happens when Labour is given its chance. They will never forget the harm done when Labour makes its choices, and they will never forget that Labour’s first Budget was a Budget of broken promises.

It is an absolute honour to make the closing speech on this historic Budget. It is historic for two reasons. First, it is the first ever Budget to be delivered by a woman—the first female Chancellor of the Exchequer after 800 years. She has smashed the glass ceiling, and I hope all the women and young girls watching know that they can be in the driving seat of a Labour Government. Secondly, it is historic because we are finally wiping the slate clean and turning the page on 14 years of Tory incompetence, chaos and outright instability. This Budget will make meaningful change by focusing on the fundamentals.

Does the Minister agree that one of the best ways of celebrating this Budget is with a pint of locally brewed beer? Does she agree that the consultation on the pubs code announced by the Government in the Budget statement will be joyful to the ears of local, independent breweries in all our constituencies?

I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. I know that she is a doughty champion of the pubs in Carlisle. The pubs in my constituency are celebrating the penny off pints.

Let me get back to the previous Government, who were wrong when they claimed that they would fix the roof while the sun was shining. While chasing a budget surplus— for which, 14 years later, all they had to show was catastrophic public finances—they merely painted over the ever-growing cracks in the bedrock of our society and our country. That is why this Government are right to focus on fixing the foundations of our economy, because that is the only way that we can change the country, deliver for working people and rebuild Britain. Of course, buying a home is harder if the seller has misled us about its true condition by underestimating the size and cost of any required repairs. In that sense, rebuilding our economy is no different, because the previous Government’s public spending plans existed only on paper; there was no real allocation of money to back up any of the spending plans. They behaved no better than some huckster trying desperately to sell a flat that they know will never be built.

That is why the OBR has said that, had it been made aware of the scale of the spending pressures during the spring 2024 Budget, its assessment of the previous Government’s spending plans would have been “materially different”. That is why it was right that we took our time to conduct a full survey of the economic inheritance that they left us.

Will the Minister give way?

The right hon. Gentleman has intervened 18 times. I shall not give him another chance.

Let me continue. That is the only way that we can really fix the foundations. Of course, that involves taking tough decisions, particularly on spending and taxation, but I will take no lectures from those who were content to levy a £22 billion pound tax on this country’s future, and, through their unfunded spending commitments, attempt to undemocratically bind the hands of a future Government. Well, guess what? This Government will do things differently. While the previous Government allowed investment in our country to fall to its lowest level on record, this Government will put investment at the heart of everything that we do.

That is why we held the international investment summit in October—to show firms at home and abroad that Britain is open for business once more. That is why we have introduced a new fiscal rule—the investment rule—which, alongside appropriate guardrails provided by the OBR and our new stability rule, means that this Government can meaningfully invest in our country’s future.

Of course, investment means taking a long-term view. As anyone who has bought a property, built a business or raised a family will know, the early days are always the hardest. But if they take the hard calls now, in time they will get back far more than they put in. I pick those examples deliberately, but with regret. The sad truth is that, for working people—particularly young people—up and down the country, home ownership, entrepreneurship and starting a family have never been more distant. This Budget will start to change that.

Our manifesto made a clear commitment to get Britain building again. This Budget puts the first shovels in the ground, with a commitment to spend an average of 2.6% of GDP on public sector net investment over the course of this Parliament. This will include an additional £500 million in new funding for social and affordable homes, which brings total investment in housing supply to more than £5 billion and supports the delivery of tens of thousands of new homes.

We will build more than just homes; we need to build communities. Infrastructure is key to tying those communities together while ensuring that they plug into the wider economy. [Interruption.] The shadow Foreign Secretary asks how. If she listens, she will learn, so she should pay attention. Getting our country moving again will be key to growing the economy. [Interruption.] She should not chunter from the Front Bench. She needs to listen, because our commitment to infrastructure investment will help us to do so—by, for instance, increasing local roads investment by £500 million in 2024-25. These are the things that the previous Government failed to do, but we will deliver for our country. For working families, that means less time wasted dodging potholes and more time for the things that actually matter. Of course, infrastructure helps not just families but firms. In an increasingly volatile world, Government should play an important role in securing our energy supply so that firms can price that into their business plan.

We heard powerful and authentic maiden speeches today from my hon. Friends the Members for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell), for Stoke-on-Trent North (David Williams) and for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh). We will see them as huge assets to Parliament. Some of them mentioned that their families did not think that they would get here; I am really pleased that their families were wrong.

I will finish by echoing something that the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for North Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller), said. It is not often that I agree with him, but he said that we had choices. The truth is that we did have choices, and guess what? We chose to act. In 10 years’ time, the country will look back on this Budget as the moment when we got Britain’s future back. In the future, the economy will have grown because at this moment we chose to prioritise a healthy workforce; we will have record levels of investment because we prioritised fiscal and economic responsibility; and people will have more money in their pockets because we prioritised protecting hard-working people’s payslips. The merry-go-round of austerity and economic irresponsibility is over. We made a choice—a choice to rebuild Britain.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That income tax is charged for the tax year 2025-26.

And it is declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution should have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1968.

Let me explain what will happen next. I am now required under Standing Order No. 51(3) to put successively, without further debate, the Question on each of the Ways and Means motions numbered 2 to 62, and the money motion on which the Finance Bill is to be brought in. These motions are set out in a separate paper distributed with today’s Order Paper.

The Deputy Speaker put forthwith the Questions necessary to dispose of the motions made in the name of the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Standing Order No. 51(3)).

2. Income tax (main rates)

Resolved,

That for the tax year 2025-26 the main rates of income tax are as follows—

(a) the basic rate is 20%,

(b) the higher rate is 40%, and

(c) the additional rate is 45%.

And it is declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution should have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1968.

3. Income tax (default and savings rates)

Resolved,

That—

(1) For the tax year 2025-26 the default rates of income tax are as follows—

(a) the default basic rate is 20%,

(b) the default higher rate is 40%, and

(c) the default additional rate is 45%.

(2) For the tax year 2025-26 the savings rates of income tax are as follows—

(a) the savings basic rate is 20%,

(b) the savings higher rate is 40%, and

(c) the savings additional rate is 45%.

And it is declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution should have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1968.

4. Income tax (starting rate limit for savings)

Resolved,

That—

(1) For the tax year 2025-26 the amount specified in section 12(3) of the Income Tax Act 2007 (the starting rate limit for savings) is “£5,000”.

(2) Accordingly, section 21 of that Act (indexation) does not apply in relation to the starting rate limit for savings for that tax year.

And it is declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution should have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1968.

5. Income tax (appropriate percentage for cars)

Resolved,

That (notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the practice of the House relating to the matters that may be included in Finance Bills) provision may be made taking effect in a future year increasing the appropriate percentages mentioned in sections 139 to 142 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.

6. Capital gains tax (the main rates)

Question put,

That—

(1) In section 1H of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 (the main rates of CGT)—

(a) omit subsection (1A) (which sets out the rates for residential property gains accruing to individuals),

(b) in subsection (3) (which sets out the rates for gains accruing to individuals that are not residential property gains or carried interest gains)—

(i) for “10%” substitute “18%”, and

(ii) for “20%” substitute “24%”,

(c) omit subsection (4A) (which sets out the rates for residential property gains accruing to personal representatives),

(d) in subsection (6) (which sets out the rates for gains accruing to personal representatives that are not residential property gains or carried interest gains), for “20%” substitute “24%”,

(e) omit subsection (7) (which sets out the rates for residential property gains accruing to trustees), and

(f) in subsection (8) (which sets out the rates for gains accruing to trustees that are not residential property gains or carried interest gains)—

(i) omit “Other”, and

(ii) for “20%” substitute “24%”.

(2) The amendments made by this Resolution have effect in relation to disposals made on or after 30 October 2024.

(3) If an asset is transferred on or after 30 October 2024 under an unconditional contract made before that date, the disposal is, despite section 28(1) of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to be treated for the purposes of the amendments made by this Resolution as taking place at the time the asset is transferred (rather than at the time the contract is made) unless the contract is an excluded contract.

(4) A contract is an excluded contract if—

(a) obtaining an advantage by reason of the application of section 28(1) of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 was no purpose of entering into the contract, and

(b) where the parties to the contract are connected persons, the contract was entered into wholly for commercial reasons.

(5) A contract is not to be regarded as an excluded contract unless the person making the transfer makes a claim which includes a statement that the contract meets the conditions to be an excluded contract.

(6) But no claim is required if the total amount of—

(a) the chargeable gain accruing on the disposal, and

(b) the chargeable gains accruing on all other disposals made under excluded contracts, does not exceed £100,000.

(7) For this purpose the amount of any gain accruing on a qualifying business disposal is to be taken to be the amount of the gain under section 169N(2) of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992.

(8) If the person making the transfer makes—

(a) a claim under section 169M of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 in relation to a qualifying business disposal (business asset disposal relief), or

(b) a claim under section 169VM of that Act (investors’ relief) in relation to a disposal, section 169M(2) and (3) of that Act, or (as the case may be) section 169VM(1) and (2) of that Act, apply to a claim under paragraph (5) in relation to the disposal as they apply to a claim under the section concerned.

(9) In this Resolution “qualifying business disposal” has the meaning given by Chapter 3 of Part 5 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992.

(10) In this Resolution any reference to the transfer of an asset includes its conveyance.

And it is declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution should have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1968.