Labour’s First Budget in 15 Years: A Historic Day, or Just a Mild Stretch?

Rachel Reeves brings a welcome shift - but can gentle tweaks really mend 14 years of Tory wreckage?

So, I have some thoughts on the budget.

@RachelReevesMP did brilliantly - whatever anyone says, it’s nothing short of historic to see our first female Chancellor deliver Labour’s first budget in fifteen years.

But the real question for me is: has it done enough?

Was it perfect?

Not remotely.

An improvement from the Tories?

By light years (but, of course, that’s hardly the highest bar).

Labour seems to have thrown itself into the task of rebalancing the economy, and it looks like they're doing it inch by inch. However, this budget still has a lingering caution that risks leaving the scale tipped off-kilter.

Take national insurance: Reeves increased the employer’s contribution to 15%, a move does look like it sidesteps workers but aims squarely at businesses to raise £25 billion. This approach has merit, sure, but given the yawning gap in the Treasury after 14 years of Tory mismanagement and fiscal incompetence, it’s a gentle prod where perhaps a shove was needed.

Then, there’s income tax - with thresholds updated in line with inflation from 2028, which does avoid the frozen thresholds fiasco the Tories left us with.

Fine.

But it would have been a gift to lower earners if at least the basic tax threshold had seen a moderate increase. Labour’s done a delicate dance here, opting for modest adjustments over more dramatic gestures, which may be safer in the short term but hardly revolutionary.

Capital gains tax?

A bit of a mixed bag.

Yes, it’s gone up - now 18% for lower rates and 24% on the higher, a modest squeeze on the wealthy. Yet, for property investors, it’s definitely a dodged bullet; they’ll still avoid any CGT increases on second homes. It seems that even a Labour government is cautious to tread too heavily on the gilded toes of the property-owning class, like our gentleman from earlier this year who found himself in the tragic position of having to sell 30 of his (least unprofitable) properties out of a portfolio of 65.

On a bit more of an optimistic notes, the minimum wage has climbed to £12.21 per hour, a step up that’s frankly overdue. But, I'll be honest, in today’s economic climate, £12.21 doesn’t quite cut it for so many people who are still barely scraping by. It’s an improvement, yes, but even at full-time hours, it’s a narrow, very threadbare lifeline for workers swimming in a sea of rising costs. The national living wage should be living - not simply surviving.

As for the fuel duty freeze, the decision to extend it for yet another year feels like a relic from the Tory era. This freeze does very little for climate goals or public transport, and while it may placate motorists momentarily, it’s the kind of populist half-measure that Labour should be steering away from. The climate clock ticks on, yet here we are, ignoring it.

In education, Reeves has thrown £6.7 billion to the Department for Education, a respectable start to patching the Tory-era funding ravine. But rebuilding Britain’s educational framework needs far, far more than mere repairs; we need radical, structural investment to help schools flourish and deliver the high quality education that we need in this country. Special needs education, especially, demands far emphasis; SEN support should never have been farmed out to private schools, and fixing that oversight will require a helluva lot more than just token budget increases.

The NHS, meanwhile, gets a £22.6 billion increase for operational costs and another £3.1 billion for capital investment. But remember, this is the same NHS that the Conservatives spent a decade-and-a-half effectively dismantling and strangling off bit by bit. Yes, the budget has delivered a critical lifeline, but with £37 billion in NHS capital shortfalls hanging overhead, the real question is whether this budget allocation will go the distance or merely slow the drowning.

Housing was given a nod, with £5 billion ear marked towards affordable housing, support council reinvestments, and hire more planning officers. Great - as long as this government ensures that affordable housing actually means what it says on the tin. Without strict oversight, we’re just creating another housing bubble, not genuine affordability that we desperately need.

Then there’s transport, with an east-west rail link between Oxford and Cambridge and promises for HS2 tunnelling to Euston. And while the Chancellor certainly inherited a mess from the Tories here (and they can bay all they want about this), the announced upgrades fall short of the transformational investment our transport system desperately needs. Promises to Level Up the north’s rail system are as good as the pavement they’re built on - too often thin and weather-beaten.

Public investment had a few standout moments, with Reeves pledging £6.1 billion across sectors like engineering, biotechnology, and life sciences. Finally, some foresight. This is the kind of “investment, investment, investment” mindset we need more of if the UK ever hopes to re-energise its economy, or indeed, keep up with international competition.

On taxation for the wealthy, we saw private school fees slapped with VAT and the long-overdue elimination of the non-dom status. Now, these are moves that fit Labour’s narrative and, frankly, should have been done years ago - though expect a further flurry of pearl-clutching and fainting sofa crashing in certain corners of the media.

In summary?

Labour's budget is a commendable first effort, with the faintest shades of hope for a fairer economy. But to achieve any lasting impact, it needs bolder strokes, firmer action on wealth taxes, and a backbone that’s unafraid to shake the status quo. In a country hanging on by frayed threads, Labour’s cautious approach may prove just enough for now - but let’s hope they’re ready to bring out the big guns next time.

And yes, the highlight: Jeremy Hunt’s face looking as though someone had taken a piss all over his batteries.

That, dear reader, was priceless.