A budget for the history books?

Historic.  

That is a word often overused in British politics by politicians and pundits alike. Whatever the colour of the rosette, politicians always want us to believe their latest plans are bigger and better than anything that has come before.  

The 1945 Labour government’s post-war Budget saw dramatic increased spending on housing, health and education, and in 1992, Norman Lamont’s tax cutting budget helped deliver the unexpected Tory victory in that year’s election. Others are less fondly remembered – most notably Kwasi Kwarteng’s ‘mini-Budget’ in 2022 which dramatically cut taxes, shocking the markets and ending up being largely reversed weeks later.  

For Rachel Reeves – she hopes this Budget will be remembered as kicking off a decade of Labour in power and it was, without doubt, historic for its own reasons too. The first to be delivered by a Labour Chancellor in over fourteen years. The first to have been ever delivered by a female Chancellor. And the largest tax raising budget since John Major’s government in 1993 – with £40 billion in tax rises. 

Since the election, the government has – as promised – gone ahead with many of the plans it committed to in its manifesto – from shaking up the planning system, pushing ahead with its plans to nationalise the railways, give workers more rights at work, create GB Energy, and more. However, changes to the winter fuel allowance and the government’s ‘freebies’ scandal do appear to have hit home with the public – being both avoidable and damaging.  

That is why this Budget matters so much. It is a vital reset moment for the government. Plagued by unpopular decisions and plummeting approval ratings, the Budget provided a moment for Reeves to say what a Labour government will do with its newfound majority in Parliament.  

It was, without doubt, a big budget. Early in the Chancellor’s speech, she made clear what that means when she said “This Budget will raise taxes by 40bn”. That is a huge amount of money, and Reeves 2024 Budget becomes the largest tax raising Budget since 1993.  

From unleashing billions of pounds in infrastructure investment, to increasing the National Living Wage to take account of the cost of living, and a dramatic funding boost for the NHS – much was certainly what Labour MPs wanted to see. 

When Labour won a landslide election result on July 4th, the party ran its election campaign with a simple, one-word slogan - ‘Change’. So, will Reeves budget make enough difference that people think their lives are getting better?

You can read our full briefing on the budget here.