UK opposition parties have criticised the budget unveiled by Chancellor Rachel Reeves today.
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrats leader called it a “botched budget delivered by a Chancellor who has diagnosed the disease, but refuses to administer the cure.”
He asserted that the government has chosen to reject the single biggest thing it could do to turbocharge economic growth and repair the £90bn Brexit black hole.
“Labour was elected on a promise of tackling the cost of living crisis and growing the economy – and this is the second budget where it’s failed to do either. For millions of people struggling with higher bills, all this budget really offers is higher taxes.”
Ed Davey
Adrian Ramsay, the Green party’s Treasury Spokesperson stated that instead of delivering a transformational budget to tax extreme wealth fairly and tackle the cost-of-living crisis, “this Labour government has once again chosen to paper over the cracks – with half-measures that won’t do enough to fix the deep-rooted problems in our economy that are keeping ordinary people in poverty while the super-rich get richer.”
He added that it is “indefensible” that the Chancellor is cutting vital home insulation funding, “one of the best ways to lower bills.”
Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster stated that Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves promised change but “have delivered complete chaos, higher energy bills, higher food prices and a soaring cost of living.
Rhun ap Iorwerth, the Plaid Cymru leader noted that this budget makes one thing clear: “Wales is being short-changed again,” adding, “Nothing in today’s announcements changes the fundamental unfairness facing our nation.”
“On taxation, Labour’s pick-and-mix approach is dishonest and chaotic. Rather than targeting the wealthiest and the big banks through wealth taxes, Rachel Reeves has chosen to freeze income tax thresholds for those in work, a dishonest and unfair wait to raise further revenue.”
Rhun ap Iorwerth
At a press conference, Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, condemned what he called a budget which would do nothing to help an economy “on the edge of a precipice.”
These remarks came as UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves unveiled significant tax rises expected to raise 26.1bn pounds ($34.4bn).
The presentation of her budget statement to parliament on came after an unprecedented leak from the government’s independent forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which published its economic and financial outlook early on its website, essentially signalling Reeves’s measures in advance.
Reeves criticised the watchdog for the embarrassing blunder, which the OBR blamed on a “technical error,” saying it went “live on our website too early this morning.”
At the heart of the budget was a move to freeze the tax levels into which earners are placed, meaning as wages rise, more people fall into higher tax brackets.
The continued freeze on the income tax brackets and national insurance thresholds will pull 780,000 people into paying basic-rate income tax for the first time by the 2029-2030 fiscal year along with 920,000 more higher-rate taxpayers and 4,000 additional-rate payers.
The freeze is projected to raise about 8.3bn pounds ($10.95bn) in 2029-2030 and will extend to 2030-2031.Other personal tax changes include 4.7bn pounds ($6.2bn) to be raised through charging national insurance on salary-sacrificed pension contributions and 2.1bn pounds ($2.77bn) through increasing tax rates on dividends, property and savings income by 2 percentage points.
Other revenue-raising measures include a “mansion tax” on homes worth more than 2m pounds ($2.6m) that will take effect in 2028, raising an estimated 400m pounds ($527.6m).
Reeves also announced an increase in duties on remote gambling from 21 percent to 40, which she said would raise more than 1bn pounds ($1.3bn) by 2031.
Budget At Politically Precarious Moment
The budget comes at a politically precarious moment for the Labour government.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer is grappling with poor poll ratings and growing unease within his party as some MPs have publicly speculated about a future leadership challenge.
Analysts said that a budget misfire could deepen the sense of crisis.
Reeves, however, insisted Labour’s plan would “beat the forecasts” and set the foundations for long-term growth.
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