Budget Resolutions

Antonia Bance Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Antonia Bance (Tipton and Wednesbury) (Lab)]

I am so sorry that the shadow Health Secretary is no longer in his place. After his astonishing speech, I wanted to invite him to the Black Country, where waiting lists of more than a year are down by 45%. I think that the right hon. Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison) managed somehow to compare a speech he disagreed with to Hillsborough; that is not worthy of him, and I hope he will withdraw it.

This is a Budget to cut the cost of living. It is a Budget to make work pay, raising the national minimum wage and giving 2.7 million workers a pay rise. Work brings dignity, and everyone who can should work, but work alone is not always enough to beat the wolves of hunger, cold and want. In this country, our deal is this: if you do the right thing and work, bring your kids up well and follow the rules, the country will help you in return. In our tradition, we believe in a strong state that helps people to lift their heads from daily struggle and gives everyone the freedom to set their own path. For so many, that means the simple aspiration of having children and building a family, which is why in this Budget we are funding more childcare, free breakfast clubs and free school meals. It is why we will build 1.5 million new homes, end no-fault eviction and ban zero-hours contracts.

With this Budget, we add one more source of security for working-class families. If you get ill or lose your job, if—heaven forbid—your partner dies, if your husband beats you up and you have to grab your kids and run, the safety net of our welfare state will once again catch you and all your kids. No child is responsible for the actions of his or her parents. The happy event of a little one being born should not tip a family into poverty, and whether a six-year-old eats tonight should not depend on how many brothers or sisters she has. In 2019, many of us watched a “Dispatches” documentary called “Britain’s Breadline Kids” and heard Cameron, then aged nine, say “We try not to eat too much in a day”. It shamed us all. We raged at our lack of power to change it, but now we can, and we will.

Ending the two-child limit at a stroke helps 5,540 children in Tipton, Wednesbury and Coseley and 1.6 million nationally—one in every nine of our kids. Most families who are helped—six in 10—are in work, and loads of them—four in 10—have a disabled member. None of them deserve poverty. So to the mums with three or more kids who are using universal credit to top up low wages and high rents, I say this: “I know how hard you work, and how tough it is out there. I know you love your kids fiercely. This is for you.” To the parties opposite, I say, “Don’t talk to me about how families should plan. You have never met a better planner than a single mum in Friar Park making the money stretch.” To my constituents who are working hard to make ends meet, not always able to afford everything they want, I say this: “I get it, but I will not apologise.” Every child deserves a fair start in life.

This is what a Labour Government do. We are seeing not the shame and powerlessness of nine-year-old Cameron telling us that he tries not to eat too much, but, with Labour in government, lower energy bills, higher wages, growth everywhere—not just in London—and lower child poverty. This is a Labour Budget for all our families.