Does Labour’s Budget help ‘working individuals’? From costlier bus fares to cheaper pints – that is what voters should say

Brits reeling from Rachel Reeves‘ first Budget have told MailOnline they are worried about affording buses, keeping their children in private school and whether or not they can continue to afford employing people..

On the streets of Britain, voters were quick to have their say on the revelations in the first ever female Chancellor’s Budget, which declared a £40bn war on those with inheritances and multiple properties as well as big employers.

As well as hiking national insurance paid by employers – while raising the thresholds at which workers start paying tax – the Chancellor also raised the windfall tax paid by North Sea firms and the amount of capital gains tax on the sale of assets.

The minimum wage has been hiked to £12.21 an hour, and workers aged 18-20 will eventually be paid the same as those 21 and over, while fuel duty has been frozen, tobacco duty has been increased and duty on beer has been cut.

Experts have decried the stack of announcements as a ‘mixed bag’ – and those who spoke to us, working people among them, were similarly muddled on whether they would stand to benefit or ultimately lose out. 

Retirees Jeff and Sue Whiteway, both in their 60s, were frank in their feelings about the Budget and its impact on businesses.

Asked what he was concerned about, Jeff, formerly CEO of office equipment wholesaler OfficeTeam, said: ‘Most of it, quite honestly. Obviously it’s not going to be great news if you’ve got some wealth: the attack on pensions; the impact on employers.

‘With minimum wage going up and national insurance going up,  how the hell – having run a small business myself – can you actually grow if all those costs are going up? It’s not great for the economy.’

He added: ‘Small businesses are definitely going to be affected because many are on the brink anyway – this will maybe just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in so many companies.

‘What I don’t understand is the Conservatives reduced national insurance for employees, twice – why wasn’t that just reversed?

‘The easiest thing to do would have been to reverse that. (Labour) promised not to raise anything for employees but by doing it against employers that will affect employees because if employers are worse off they can’t look after employees.

‘Will wage increases be less? Pension contributions? Potentially yes. It’s all linked in together.’

Recruitment boss Adam Holden, 46, from Walsall, said he was ‘prepared to pay a little bit more’ if it led to an improvement in public services – but was angry that much of the onus was put on employers for this to happen.

He said: ‘I think (the Budget) will impact everyone’s finances but the reality is that’s the right thing. I think it has paid lip service to working people but will make it much more difficult for employers, particularly the rise in national insurance.

‘It will put a real squeeze on employers so in reality we’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. I’m really disappointed that we’re expecting employers to fund a massive tax gap.’

Cybersecurity apprentice Nayef Alrefai, 18, said: ‘As a young person the biggest worry for me is the bus charges, just increased to £3. 

‘Travel is quite expensive at the moment and it’s something I’m definitely concerned about. I’m not making a lot of money and the majority of my money goes towards travel at the moment so that’s the most concerning thing for me.’

Outside Victoria train station lawyer Monique Bellow, 44, admitted she was mulling over putting her privately educated child back in state school ahead of the introduction of VAT on school fees.

‘As much as everyone thinks if you sent your kids to private school it’s a privilege, it isn’t, right? We do a massive effort in order to send our kids to private education,’ she said.

‘The schools in our area are already overcrowded so this will create more problems for other children.’

She added that she was looking at how her money would be passed on in light of the changes to inheritance tax: ‘This morning we were in the process of trying to consolidate a plan. 

‘We’re not getting any younger but I’m not from here, I don’t receive any benefits, I work full time, I have three children, I need to make sure they are secure.’

Elsewhere in London, florist Diane Mills, 70, said she didn’t think Labour ‘knew what they were doing’ with the Budget.

The Westmount Flowers owner said of the changes to national insurance and the minimum wage: ‘It affects how many staff we can have and if we can keep all the staff we have at the moment. 

‘I don’t drink, so (a penny off a pint) won’t affect me. Fuel is high enough as it is anyway so if it’s not going up any higher that’s a good thing.’

She added: ‘I don’t think (the Budget) protects working people – I think it protects their choice of working people. They say if you own a shop you don’t work in it – I work five days a week, most people work five days a week.

‘They’re picking their own sort of “who are workers” in the Labour Party’s ilk but I don’t count in it. I don’t think they even know what “working people” are.

‘I can see why they want to spend what they want to spend but if we’re in as much of a mess as they say they are perhaps don’t go so silly over it.’

In Guildford, Bike Bros repair shop owner Yousif Sadik, 33, was cagey about what the changes to employer NI contributions would mean for him.

‘The increase in national insurance contributions is going to increase the strain on small business owners like myself,’ he warned.

On the rise of the national living wage to £12.21 an hour, he added: ‘I think that’s a good thing. Hopefully people will then have more disposable income and that would benefit small business owners like myself.

‘It’s good that the government is trying to get the money to spend on the country. 

‘Increasing the employer NI contribution isn’t great for me as a small business owner but by increasing the employment allowance I hope that counteracts the increase of the employer NI contributions.’

In Newcastle, retired financial adviser turned taxi driver David Haggath, 66, had some choice words for Rachel Reeves after she unveiled a £25billion national insurance raid on employers’ coffers.

‘The main thing that I don’t like is the things that they’re doing now they never said they were going to do in their manifesto before the election,’ he said.

‘I had my own business for most of my life and if you’re employing staff and I’ve then got to pay more national insurance the money’s got to come from somewhere doesn’t it? Simple as that.

‘People with coffee shops, hairdressers, if their NI contributions are rising for staff they’ll have to put their prices up. The people paying those prices are the public.’

Self-employed builder Mark Jones, 54, said: ‘I’m not worried, exempting the fact the Chancellor’s got to pull some money and it’s going to be tough and we just have to grin and bear it.

‘Green initiatives need to come in now. We cannot keep hanging around.’

Met Police worker Katherine Onlee, 26: ‘The price of living has gone up. Pints have gone up, but they’re going down by a penny, living wage has gone up, rent has gone massively up, trying to afford a house, trying to save for a house.

‘My parents would help me but I’m old enough to not have to ask – but it’s different times. My parents bought houses when they were my age but nowadays it’s not the same.’

On the national insurance hikes, she added: ‘It depends on which areas it goes to. Still having an eight-hour wait for A&E is not great, or a two-week wait for a GP.’

Up in Salford, Greater Manchester, Phil Austin, the 83-year-old inhabitant of the Monton lighthouse, was pensive about what wage rises would mean in reality.

‘We seem to be increasing minimum wage, which is inevitably going to reduce the workforce because the businesses, their main cost usually is their staff. 

‘They’ll either have to put their prices up, which means people will want an increase in minimum wage. It’s a vicious circle.’

He added: ‘We’ve got to borrow, but to just throw it at the NHS without investigating where the money is going would be a mistake. Personally, I would have a look at the cost of the NHS and make some changes.’ 

Retired worker John O’Connell, 70, said: ‘It won’t affect me as it would do a working person or a person with a young family. If people want services and everything else you have to find a way of paying for it.

‘I know people don’t like it but that’s the reality of it.’

On the other hand, young photography student Jack Butcher was positive about the hike to national insurance that will be paid by employers.

The 18-year-old said: ‘I think each to their own, everybody should be able to earn their own money somewhat. The fact (businesses) are profiting off of it is a bit selfish, I guess.

‘It’s good for the small businesses, definitely. And putting money into the NHS, helping people is always a good thing.’

He added: ‘There’s a bit of a housing crisis at the minute… there’s people who are pushing 25, 30 that are still having to live with their parents just because they can’t afford houses, it’s way too much.

‘I don’t think I’ll ever get a house if things stay as they are. It’s definitely a worry.’

Fellow student Yasmin Carey, 19, was positive about the increase to the living wage – and the news that the wage will apply to all workers aged 18 and over before the decade is out.

‘Being under 21, I know my boyfriend gets paid way more, even if we’re doing the same job, and that’s not fair on me,’ she said.

‘You can never get into the doctors (now). During Covid everyone was (supportive of) the NHS but since it’s not a thing anymore apparently there hasn’t been much talk of the NHS or anything. It’s a bit lost now. Now it’s like nobody cares about it.’

Chef Darren Henderson, 45, was cynical about the boost to the national minimum wage.

He said: ‘They’re putting minimum wage up because you’ll pay more tax. By paying people more they get more – what’s the point?

‘It’ll screw a load of businesses anyway because that money has to come from somewhere. They’re freezing fuel for two years but (other) costs will go up, which means you’ve got to put your prices up.’

Asked if he thinks people will suffer in the long term, he added: ‘I do. You’ve got hourly paid people who want to work more but will you have the hours to give these people? It might kill business.

‘I think the  NHS could do with a bit more money to be honest – I was in hospital and I had an operation that saved my life. But you get… we had a nine-hour wait – does it have to be? 

‘Can’t you employ a couple more doctors or nurses – but does anybody want to do that trade?’

In Birmingham, 77-year-old Phil Bradley said: ‘There needs to be a massive injection into public services. The fuel allowance, I’m not too happy about to be honest.

‘Overall I am disappointed. I am a Labour supporter at heart and tough decisions have to be made but they (have been) enforced on people that have got less.’

Dave Cowley, 68, said: ‘You can help the working class people by giving them more jobs so you have to help business to give them more jobs. There are many ways to skin a cat.’

Student Megan Drinkall, 21, works as a sales assistant on a minimum wage – and doesn’t expect to be able to climb the property ladder any time soon.

‘The property ladder is a really big worry for me, and access to houses. Building more houses is really beneficial for us, as a younger generation,’ she said.

‘Being 21 when this budget is coming out is beneficial.’

Savvy retired financial advisor Campbell Murie, 70, of Tongwynlais, Cardiff, snapped up a bulk box of vaping liquid three weeks ago before a new levy on vapes was announced today.

The married father-of-two and grandfather of four proudly said: ‘I’ve got a whole box of it so I’m not entirely worried – that will last me the best part of a year.’