‘Bringing down energy bills and increasing the minimum wage above inflation will make a real difference to families’, TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak writes for the Mirror
The Chancellor delivered urgent relief to millions of hard-pressed households across Britain.
This Budget didn’t just talk about helping working people – it actually did something.
Bringing down energy bills and increasing the minimum wage above inflation will make a real difference to families who’ve spent years watching every penny.
But the standout moment was the decision to scrap the cruel two-child benefit cap. With just a few words the Chancellor lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. That is not just policy. That is a moral victory.
This paper, trade unions and anti-poverty campaigners have been shouting about this for years. The Tories ignored the warnings. Rachel Reeves didn’t. She listened and she acted.
READ MORE: Budget 2025 LIVE: Rachel Reeves confirms axe of DWP two-child benefit cap
And for the children who will now have food on the table, a warm bedroom and a fair shot at life that choice matters more than any political point-scoring ever could.
The policies announced at the Budget will mean the wealthiest are paying more and will disproportionately help low- and middle-income households who have suffered the most.
And goodness knows they need it. Fourteen years of Conservative government took a wrecking ball to living standards.
Pay packets were squeezed to breaking point. Child poverty exploded to Dickensian levels. Public services were slashed to the bone. Ordinary people paid the price. This Budget will help turn the page on that long, bleak Tory era.
But let’s be honest – Britain needs more than one Budget. It needs a relentless focus on affordability, living standards and making work pay – not just now but for the long haul.
That means investing in our young people, rebuilding and investing in our public services, creating good jobs in every corner of the country.
And it means going further on taxing wealth fairly so the system works for the many, not just the rich few.
Do that and Britain can finally start rebuilding after 14 wasted years.
Do that and this government will prove exactly what it promised last July – that it is firmly, unapologetically on the side of working people.