Budget Resolutions

Catherine West Excerpts

Wednesday 26th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Catherine West (Hornsey and Friern Barnet) (Lab)]

It is an honour to follow the leader of the Liberal Democrats, the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey), in this debate. Put very simply, this is a family-friendly Budget, and every family up and down the UK will be welcoming it. Gone is the vile rape clause, and an increase in family income is very welcome.

We have been through many traumatic times together in this House. We have been through the global financial crisis and its long tail. We have been through Brexit, and the right hon. Member was quite right to emphasise the vast difference between our economy while we were in the European Union and our economy now that we are not. I welcome the work being done at Cabinet level, and I ask the Cabinet to redouble its efforts to work on good trade arrangements under the EU-UK security pact to improve and enlarge our economy. And, of course, we have had covid. We heard about covid this week, with the publication of the UK covid-19 inquiry report. We all remember not just the impact on the economy, but the terrible impact on younger people in particular and the impact that that long tail is having on so many of our young people, who are still feeling too unwell to work or whose work opportunities have been severely reduced through anxiety, depression and all the other things that not just covid but that context of fiscal austerity brought down on them.

I represent a multi-faith, multi-ethnic constituency that works really hard on community cohesion. When all is said and done, we rub along well together in Hornsey and Friern Barnet. From recent rhetoric, it could be assumed that there is deep unhappiness and division. In fact, it is the opposite. I would like to put on record the contribution to our local economy from all parts of my constituency, regardless of skin colour, faith or school qualifications.

Of course, my community also faces challenges. We have unacceptably high numbers of children living in households where incomes do not cover the basics of heating, eating and rent. I really welcome today’s statement on heating, with help for households; on eating, with school meals, more breakfast clubs and help in particular for secondary school children with their nutrition; and on rent, quite rightly introducing a little more tax on some of the landlords who, in a wealthy place such as London, will be making quite a lot and can afford to pay a little more.

It is my first Budget as a member of the Treasury Committee. This Budget has rewarded those who fought to restore hope, stop the chaos of the 14 years of Conservative Governments and deliver change. Remember the election? We promised change. Today, we saw change. That change is an end to poverty-line family budgets. The hope is that we finally see food banks close for good.

[Chris Coghlan (Dorking and Horley) (LD)]

I thank the hon. Member for giving way. She is a colleague with me on the Treasury Committee. In terms of the Government delivering hope, a key part of the Government’s economic forecasting comes, of course, from the Office for Budget Responsibility. A lot of what has driven the Budget today is the £16 billion productivity downgrade by the OBR. We heard in the Treasury Committee that there was very little basis behind that productivity forecast in the first place and that it was based purely on UK productivity pre-2008 and not much real depth beyond that. Does she agree with me that the OBR has serious work to do to look at the robustness of its forecasts?

--- Later in debate ---

[Catherine West]

I thank my Treasury Committee colleague. There was quite a lot in today’s Budget on skills and nutrition for children so they can get their educational qualifications, and quite a lot that will help us to solve the productivity puzzle. I look forward to questioning, with him, the OBR on its data and how it got to that position, and how we can be helpful in pushing the Government towards even more investment in skills and apprenticeships, and in deepening our investment in young people so that our productivity can improve over time.

I know that so many of us in the House are in politics because we want every child and every family to have the chance to thrive in school, work and life. Let us look back at past Labour Governments. In 1945, despair and hunger stalked many communities. London was flattened in the blitz and rationing would continue for nine more years. Keynes famously said:

“Anything we can actually do, we can afford…we are immeasurably richer than our predecessors.”

What did Labour then do? Labour went on to build the NHS, build the country and build the welfare state. We can do this, we will make the UK fairer, and today is a really good start on that journey.

Very briefly, because I know so many Members wish to speak today, as a former borough leader, I introduced free schools meals for all primary schoolchildren. It was a great equaliser and social leveller, children were more focused and made better progress, families who were just about managing saved money, and there was no stigma—everyone sat together and talked with each other. Free school meals for all primary schoolchildren were subsequently rolled out across London, and we know that more secondary school children will benefit under the Government’s proposals today. We need to continue to restore hope and deliver change.

The two-child cap on universal credit is another pro-family measure, the most cost-effective quick measure to bring up to half a million children out of poverty ,and paid for by an increase in the tax on the most addictive forms of gambling. My personal view is that we could have gone even further, because remote gambling—people in their bedroom on their phone —is deeply damaging to society. I hope that it raises between £1 billion and £3 billion,.

The Trussell Trust’s September “Hunger in the UK 2025” report makes for sobering reading. In 2024, 16% of UK households were food-insecure. We know that that is not a food problem, but an income problem. We must continue to interrogate the issue, and I am very pleased to have secured a Backbench business debate on food inflation and poverty.

In conclusion, together with school meals, more breakfast club provision and a higher living wage since the general election, slowly the living standards of families will turn around. It is particularly positive to see the first woman Chancellor recognise the impact that the difficult financial climate has had on families. I hope that by this time next year, once these measures are really embedded, we will begin to see the closure of food banks. I have heard a lot about what we want to see by the end of this Parliament. Let us aim for the closure of food banks in this country by 2029. We hope that every child and every family will have the chance the thrive.

[Several hon. Members rose—]