Generous investments in crucial public services such as schools and hospitals, alongside targeted tax rises, lay the foundation for long-term growth in the UK. 

Long-term Investment - Reeves believes that the key to growth is to “invest, invest, invest”. She promised £22.6b for the health budget, helping the NHS and increased spending on schools and the Department of Education. These investments could support sectors that have been struggling for years. Investing in better healthcare and education creates a better workforce to help the UK achieve sustainable growth.

Helping workers - Labour promised that their budget would protect ‘working people’. A significant increase in the National Living Wage will help millions of low-income families cope with the higher cost of living. This increase also applies to young people between the ages of 18 and 20 who are choosing full-time employment over university. These changes should boost disposable income, promote growth, and benefit workers.

Investing in better healthcare and education creates a better workforce to help the UK achieve sustainable growth.

Fairer distribution of income - The budget will raise £40b through tax rises. Most of which were aimed at businesses and society’s richest. Reeves took measures to balance the tax burden across income groups by hiking up Capital Gains Tax and officially announcing the VAT on private school fees, which addresses financial disparities in Britain.

While Reeves's policies are designed to promote growth and help workers, they seem to forget about the businesses that are paying them, relying on even more government borrowing and increase certain taxes that hurt some classes. 

Borrowing and Inflation - Despite the Budget displaying one of the largest increases in tax revenue, Labour’s planned expenditure still exceeds this by billions. Upon taking office, they claimed there was a ‘£22 billion black hole’ in the finances, and a borrowing spree certainly will not resolve this. Additionally, borrowing to invest tends to have inflationary pressures. Our inflation rate has finally come back down, so why is Reeves risking it rising again by increasing borrowing?

Businesses - UK Businesses face challenges under the new budget. Increasing employer National Insurance contributions and the National Living Wage may appear good from a worker’s perspective but raise labour costs for businesses. These could lead to prices rises for customers or prompt firms to employ more capital than labour. Given the already slow economic growth in the UK, these policies may not have the beneficial effect that Reeves intended.

Increasing employer National Insurance contributions and the National Living Wage may appear good from a worker’s perspective but raise labour costs for businesses.

Hurts the Middle-Class - The Budget aimed to redistribute income and opportunity, which the investment in schools and hospitals should do. However, other policies like the VAT on Private School and the freeze on Inheritance Tax bands may harm middle-class families who do not consider themselves wealthy, rather than the affluent, for whom schools fees and assets are not a massive expense