Baroness Nichols of Selby (Lab)

My Lords, I warmly welcome a Budget which will ease the pressure of the high cost of living, continue the process of fixing the NHS and make sure that we see debt falling over the course of this Parliament. These are the priorities of the British people and that is why they are the priorities of this Government. When I think about some of the measures contained in the Budget, I think about people back home, in Selby: those who work extra hours to make sure that they can give their children the Christmas that they deserve; those who work tirelessly to keep our public services running; and those who work long hours in their small businesses to bring employment and growth. They are the backbone of this country, but for too long working people have been failed by our country’s crumbling infrastructure. When a hard-working small-business owner hits a pothole with their van, costing hundreds of pounds that they can do without, or when a young person is signed off sick because they cannot get mental health treatment, that is damaging for them personally and for the wider economy. When the incomes of working people stagnate or fall, as they have since 2010, that is money no longer being spent in the local economy. That is bad for high streets and bad for prosperity. That is why the measures included in this Budget give me reason for optimism. The Government are investing hundreds of millions of pounds in our roads, continuing to reform and fund the NHS with millions more appointments, and we have seen wages rise more in the first year of our Labour Government than in the first decade under the Conservatives. Not everyone is feeling this relief yet, which is why the Government have gone further in this Budget. It will take £150 off people’s energy bills, with more for lower-income households, see rail fares and prescription fees frozen, and see hundreds of children lifted out of poverty. This Budget delivers on the pledge that we made to British pensioners, with those on state pensions receiving an almost 5% increase from April. I am particularly happy about what this Budget does for former mine workers in the BCSSS. After delivering on the miners’ pension scheme last year, the Chancellor has committed to doing the same for those recipients of the superannuation scheme, who will receive an average of £100 per week increase. We are doing this because to govern is not to tinker around the edges to change some figures in a spreadsheet. We were elected as a Labour Government, and people wanted to see change. That is what this Budget delivers, easing the squeeze on the cost of living while reforming our tax system so that it taxes more fairly and asks everyone who drives on our roads to contribute to their funding. It will tax the most expensive homes more, beginning to right the wrong of a band D property in Blackpool paying more in council tax than a multi-million pound mansion in Mayfair. Some have claimed that this Budget punishes aspiration, but there is nothing aspirational about an economic system that sees us spend more on servicing government debt than on defence, education or investment. There is nothing aspirational about presiding over public services that simply do not work for people. Those are the wrongs that this Budget rights, and that is why I am proud to support it.