People voted for positive ‘change’ – not pushing children into poverty

Over the last decade and a half, life in this country has become much harder.

All of us bar the richest can’t have failed to notice. The cost of everyday essentials and bills have soared.  

Rents are spiralling, with renters handing over more and more of their pay packet to their landlord every month.

The price of energy bills, due to increase again from next week, is forcing families to choose between feeding their families and heating their homes.   

Meanwhile, the things communities rely on to thrive have been stripped away. Our health service is on its knees, with patients being treated on trolleys in hospital corridors while our schools are crumbling.  

It couldn’t be clearer: the legacy of 14 years of austerity under the Conservatives has left us a poorer, sicker and less resilient country.   

You might think, then, a Labour government elected on a mantra of ‘change’ would be determined to turn things around – to repair the deep damage done to our economy, and heal our communities.   

But in today’s Spring Statement from the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves showed a shocking determination to instead double down on the last government’s failed austerity experiment, and their own figures show hundreds of thousands of people will be pushed into poverty by her plans.  

We’ve already seen this government remove winter fuel payments from a million pensioners, and refuse to scrap the cruel two-child benefit cap.   

We already knew that Reeves planned to strip billions of pounds of support away from those who could least afford it – pushing hundreds of thousands of disabled people further below the breadline. 

But on top of that, today, the chancellor announced further cuts, slashing the health element of Universal Credit, an additional payment for those with limited capacity for work, by 50% for new claimants, then freezing it. 

That is a devastating blow for disabled people seeking the support they need, especially given the spiralling cost of living.  

And it comes on top of news that at least 800,000 people will lose out on Personal Independence Payments, a benefit paid to those with long-term health conditions. 

Meanwhile, military spending gets a multi-billion pound boost, exposing as false the idea that we can’t afford to support those who need it. 

Why is it that this government can find money to potentially bomb people, but not find money to actually help people?  

Reeves’ announcements mean that overall, government spending will be cut in real terms from what was previously planned – signalling a return to austerity. 

Reeves seems to have no interest in investing in our communities, supporting vulnerable people, or revitalising our economy. Instead, she’s following in the footsteps of George Osborne with a programme of deep cuts to the services this country relies on.   

This is a staggering move from a Labour chancellor.  

It’s clear that austerity failed on every measure, not only immiserating millions of people around the country, cutting short our life expectancy and raising children who literally grow up smaller than their European peers – but grinding our economy to a halt. 

It wouldn’t be shocking to see a Conservative in denial about that, but to see Labour backing swingeing cuts feels like ‘meet the new boss, same as the old boss.’ 

We are deep in a hole created by 15 years of government neglect – and Reeves is proposing that we keep digging, maintaining the endless cycle of decline that put us in this position in the first place.    

We know what the result will be, because we’ve seen it all before.  

Disabled people across the country are already terrified of the impact that welfare cuts will have on them – many facing cutting back on essentials, losing their homes, or struggling to carry out everyday activities.  

The government’s own assessment of the impact of their welfare cuts shows that they will plunge 250,000 people into poverty – including, unforgivably, 50,000 children.  

Hundreds of my constituents have written to me to share their stories, and urge me to do something about these awful cuts. 

These people are despairing at the thought that this support could be stripped away from them – worsening their health, removing their independence and cutting them off from their communities. 

Let’s be clear – this is a choice, and there is another way.   

While most people in this country have seen their wages stagnate over the last 15 years, their bills go up and their living costs rise, there’s another group who have had quite a different experience.   

In 2024, the UK’s billionaires were estimated to have increased their collective wealth by a staggering £35million every day.  

The last government presided over an enormous upwards transfer of wealth – from ordinary people to those who profit from workers’ labour, who pocket renters’ money, and who stash their cash abroad in tax havens while the government shrugs its shoulders and says there’s simply no money left.   

It’s time to put an end to that – to make sure that work really pays, that everyone in this country gets the support they need, and that the super-wealthy pay their fair share along with the rest of us.   

This week figures showed that nearly 8 in 10 members of the public back a wealth tax – a 2% tax on assets above £10 million which could raise £24 billion a year for our public services.   

Up and down the UK people are crying out for a new direction. Last night I spoke at a rally outside the Treasury bringing together people from all walks of life to demand that the government scrap cruel welfare cuts and instead tax wealth fairly.  

There’s even growing discomfort on the government’s own benches that Starmer and Reeves have so quickly ditched the pledges they made to improve people’s lives in this country.  

Pressure is growing for the government to change course and make the changes we really need – to tax wealth fairly, and invest in our society.  

For easier access to GPs, dentists and hospital appointments where you can get the care you need when you need it, and schools where parents know their kids are getting the education they deserve. 

For decent jobs that pay a good wage, and protection for our natural world.   

All of this is possible if the government chooses – but after the missed opportunity of today, the signs aren’t good.   

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

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