Budget 1) Reeves’ £15bn welfare giveaway
“Rachel Reeves will unveil £15bn of extra benefits spending in this week’s Budget, funded by a tax raid on the middle classes. The Chancellor will end the two-child benefit cap in its entirety and increase benefit payments by nearly 4 per cent, while financing about-turns on winter fuel cuts and welfare reform. She will also drag an estimated nine million people into paying higher rates of income tax by freezing thresholds in a move critics argue breaks Labour’s election manifesto pledges. The annual cost of the four policies comes to £15bn, which, added to changes in Ms Reeves’s 2024 Budget, amounts to an extra £18bn to the benefits bill since Labour took power last year, according to Telegraph analysis. The plans have fuelled warnings that the Treasury is “vulnerable” to a market backlash unless the country’s public spending, which is being pushed up by welfare bills, is controlled. But Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to keep Labour MPs onside amid speculation about plots against his leadership, with fewer than one in five voters supporting his party in the polls. Writing in The Telegraph, Mel Stride, the Conservative shadow chancellor, argued that the Budget “welfare splurge” was being funded by “the very people who are already struggling” via tax rises.” – Daily Telegraph
- Rachel Reeves plots raid on middle-class pensions to pay for another welfare handout in this week’s Budget – Daily Mail
- Reeves to launch crackdown on benefit fraud alongside lifting two-child limit – The Guardian
- Disbelief as Rachel Reeves ‘to hand out another £15bn’ in benefits – Daily Express
- Rachel Reeves has been the victim of sexism, says Keir Starmer – The Sun
Comment:
- Welfare must be a safety net, not a blank cheque – Mel Stride, Daily Telegraph
- On Budget day, Reeves will be fighting for her political career – Anne McElvoy, The i
- Reeves could fix the economy but her own party stands in the way – Roger Bootle, Daily Telegraph
- Chancellor Rachel Reeves hints at more welfare cuts after previous rebellion – but authority on shaky ground – Amanda Akass, Sky News
- Don’t expect Labour to reform welfare – Telegraph View
- Starmer has made Reeves’s life impossible. He is the Joe Biden of Britain – Kamal Ahmed, Daily Telegraph
- Rachel Reeves proves once again she’d rather squeeze working Brits than rein in Labour’s runaway spending – The Sun Says
Budget 2) Death by a thousand taxes, including a mansion tax
“Rachel Reeves will hit more than 100,000 of Britain’s most expensive properties with a surcharge worth an average of £4,500 as she seeks to balance the books by increasing taxes on the wealthy. The chancellor has pared back plans for the property tax, increasing the threshold at which it applies from £1.5 million to £2 million to ensure that the most expensive properties are affected. Reeves plans to raise £400-£450 million from the levy, which will be collected through council tax bills. More expensive homes will pay significantly more. The Treasury is expected to use the existing council tax system as the basis for the charge by revaluing 2.4 million of the most valuable properties across bands F, G and H. More than 100,000 of the most valuable properties would be subject to the charge, which is expected to use an escalator with different bands depending on the value of the property… The government will allow people to defer paying the tax until they move house or die to avoid people having to sell up to cover the cost. The Times has been told that the Office for Budget Responsibility, the budget watchdog, has suggested that the plans could lead to a slowdown at the top of the housing market.” – The Times
- Reeves given stark Budget warning from business to avoid ‘death by a thousand taxes’ – The Independent
- Rachel Reeves to slap wealth tax on £2m homes – CityAM
- Price of a bottle of wine is expected to jump by 15p as Rachel Reeves launches Budget raid on drinkers – Daily Mail
- Rachel Reeves must ‘change course’ because you ‘can’t tax your way to growth’, head of CBI to warn – LBC News
- Everything we know about Rachel Reeves’ Budget – from mansions to milkshakes – CityAM
Comment:
- ‘It’s about to get worse’: how Rachel Reeves’ looming budget could result in a catastrophic doom loop – Andrew Pierce, Daily Mail
- Rachel Reeves is declaring war on motorists and her next tax grab will drive you crazy – Giles Sheldrick, Daily Express
- I fear Reeves will wreak irreversible harm on our pensions – just like her hero Gordon Brown did – Ruth Sunderland, Daily Mail
- Does Rachel Reeves realise she’s pounding real people? – Libby Purves, The Times
- Rachel Reeves’s ‘mansion tax’ could be Labour’s poll tax moment – Michael Mosbacher, Daily Telegraph
Badenoch warns of workers’ rights bill harm as Starmer says brains behind the bill, Angela Rayner, would be welcome back in cabinet
“Kemi Badenoch will warn on Monday that Labour’s workers’ rights legislation will destroy Christmas jobs by putting firms off hiring seasonal workers. The Employment Rights Bill, drawn up with the trade unions and championed by Angela Rayner, contains a raft of changes such as the right to demand flexible working from day one and lower thresholds for launching strikes. Mrs Badenoch, the Conservative leader, will use a speech to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) on Monday to intensify her campaign against what she calls “job-destroying” proposals. She will single out the bill’s provision to give employees regular, consistent hours and argue it could have the unintended consequence of slowing hiring for short-term jobs over the holidays. Mrs Badenoch will address the “de facto ban on seasonal and flexible work”. She will say: “If a university undergrad chooses to get a Christmas job and works 40 hours a week in the three weeks before December, they then have the right to those same hours in January, February and March. Great. Except there’s no demand then, and revenue falls off a cliff. A measure designed to ensure employment in January will effectively mean firms don’t hire in December and everyone loses. You know what happens then? Rational employers stop taking on seasonal staff at all. The farm does not hire the extra pickers. The hotel does not staff-up for the summer. The high street shop stops offering Christmas jobs. Those are the very opportunities that got many of us started. My first jobs were on the high street. Many people would have had their first job on a summer holiday or Christmas shift. We risk these opportunities disappearing.” The Tories have insisted that the package of measures undermines declarations by Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, that Labour is prioritising economic growth.” – Daily Telegraph
- ‘Damaging’ workers’ rights bill will stall growth, Reeves told – The Times
- Unions urge Reeves to prioritise living standards as CBI presses for shift on employment rights – The Guardian
- Labour’s plan to overhaul employment rights could end Christmas working opportunities – Daily Express
- Sir Keir Starmer: I want my friend Angie back in Cabinet – Daily Mail
- The real reason why Angela Rayner bought the £800,000 flat that proved her undoing – Daily Mail
Comment:
- The simple napkin sketch that exposes Rachel Reeves’s folly – Jessica Cool, The Times
- The business chiefs who were foolish enough to back Labour have no right to complain now. It’s not them I feel sorry for… – Dominic Lawson, Daily Mail
- Young, skint workers are subsidising wealthy pensioners – time to means test the state pension – Stefano Hatfield, The i
News in brief:
- How Britain’s routed Tories learned to stop worrying and fight dirty – Politico
- Why are we testing puberty blockers on children again? – Debbie Hayton, The Spectator
- How the budget could backfire – Julian Jessop, The Critic
- Rachel Reeves has a choice – James Meadway, The New Statesman
- Europe’s peace plan for Ukraine is a futile gesture – Bethany Elliott, UnHerd
