‘Labour is trying to pretend it’s all fine – everyone can see what this budget is doing’
Labour MPs have acted with “tetchiness” as they defend Rachel Reeves' budget, facing questions over whether it has raised taxes for working people. Has the government regressed to where the party was in the 1970s?
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In brief…
- The News Agents say Labour should have anticipated criticism and questions over Rachel Reeves income tax freeze, which has pushed an estimated 780,000 people into a bracket where they will pay income tax for the very first time.
- Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall say Labour should “own” its decisions, and that the UK public can see for themselves how this budget will affect them.
- The party has returned to being a “high taxation, high public spending” party that will be familiar to anyone who lived through the 1970s or ‘80s.
What’s the story?
The day after a budget is a tough one for the government, as MPs are jettisoned from Downing Street on a press tour to explain, defend and cheerlead-for the decisions of their chancellor.
Following Rachel Reeves second budget of the current Labour government, MPs have been on the defensive over a perceived rise in income tax – which Labour insists is not a rise.
Due to a freeze in income tax thresholds, an estimated 780,000 working people will be moved up into the basic rate of tax for the first time.
In the 24 hours since Reeves’ delivery in the House of Commons, Jon Sopel says he has been struck by the "tetchiness" of Reeves, Keir Starmer and other Labour MPs when quizzed on the impact of this freeze, and the budget more widely.
"They must have known that those would be the questions that would arise out of this budget,” Jon says.
"Can't Labour just admit that it has raised taxes and has increased spending massively – this is not what it said it would do in its manifesto.”
Reeves has admitted that working people would need to "pay a bit more" following her budget.
"This is a budget where the pieces are still settling, but there is almost universally negative reaction across the press," says Lewis Goodall.
"What Reeves is doing is moving the pieces around on the board, rather than growing the size of the board, or changing the game."
Internally, things are very different, with seemingly overwhelming support from Labour MPs.
"There have been very few Labour MPs articulating any deep criticism," Lewis adds.
"Some of the more left-wing MPs are saying it's a great start, but they would like to see this go a lot further.
Does Labour need to ‘own’ its decisions?
Prior to the budget, Rachel Reeves spoke of being forced to make tough decisions with the UK's finances – but now its details have been made public, does she (and her Labour colleagues) need to be more honest about what those choices actually mean?
Jon urges Labour MPs to “have some humility” and tell the public truthfully that it has raised taxes, and not pretend otherwise.
"I just think – own it. If this is what you're doing, own it and make the argument for it," he says.
"That is where politics gets itself such a bad rep, when everyone can see with their own eyes what a budget is going to do to their own household income, or their savings, and yet Labour is trying to pretend it's absolutely not, it's all fine, and that these were necessary measures."
Once again, he adds, Labour is failing to communicate its own narrative, and why it's making the decisions it is.
"Labour promised in its manifesto that it needed £8 billion in tax rises, and in the 16 months of this government so far, it's going for £66 billion in tax rises," Jon says.
"That is quite a big difference, and it has got to have a story that accompanies that.
"At the moment, they're saying there's nothing to see here. There's plenty to see here. Just tell us what it is."
Has Labour returned to where it was in the ‘70s and ‘80s?
The Blair era, the concept of 'New Labour' is long gone, The News Agents say - and Reeves' second budget is proof of that.
Lewis says we are now witnessing a return to “classic bread and butter social democracy” of a bygone Labour.
"This is an old Labour budget," says Jon.
"This is the Labour Party of old – high taxation, high public spending, growth in welfare bills and all the rest of it.
"This puts Labour in a position now where it is very much a party older people who lived through the 70s and early 80s would recognise."
But this change, or return to a former era, has been a surprise to many, and has led to questions over whether Labour lied to the public in its manifesto, where it promised its number one mission was economic growth.
"Didn't they tell us they would do one thing and then do something quite different," Jon says.
"That is always an uncomfortable place for politicians, because if you want to get disenchantment, if you want to get disillusionment, if you want to increase cynicism, then you promise one thing and deliver something else."