Andy Burham, our influencer PM, has stormed into parliament, and when he isn’t reviewing pub snacks on TikTok, he has introduced many small measures to appeal to the working man. The Budget followed the same notion. But in a time of war, a cost of living crisis, and threats from Putin, we need more than small measures.
As the former Defence Secretary, who quit after his £18 billion defence spending request being denied, Healey was surely going to invoke huge investment into defence — wrong. Instead of investing directly from the Treasury, investments will come from the National Wealth Fund and British Business Bank, who have only pledged to invest up to £5bn. He reiterated the aim of three per cent of GDP being spent on defence by 2030 but exact details of how this target will be achieved will have to wait for next year’s spending review. Reiterating previous policies and waiting for reviews are common themes in this year’s budget, and that’s why it is lacking in tangible changes.
How is this budget affecting students? Well, despite Burham’s previous pledge to scrap university fees, there was no mention of this in the budget. What the government is doing instead is keeping the freeze on plan 2 student loan repayment thresholds, causing significant fiscal drag for those who took out loans between 2012 and 2023. Furthermore, many students may not receive the one-off energy payment of £100 being sent directly to the bank accounts of households in Council tax bands A-D, because many are exempt from council tax and the government have not yet confirmed whether this means they will receive this benefit.
How is this budget affecting young people more generally? Firstly, the minimum wage for 18-20 year olds will rise but it will not yet be set to match the national living wage for over 21s, as pledged in the manifesto. Additionally, given the housing crisis, policies were introduced to help young people get on the housing ladder. However, they are full of caveats and some of the changes are taking us a step in the wrong direction, such as the First-time buyer ISA now being capped at £20,000. Moreover, the UK has one of the largest proportions of NEETs (Not in Employment, Education, or Training) in Europe and the policies addressed in this budget, such as quotas, are not enough to fix the systemic issue. We have to wait for Stephen Timms’ and Alan Milburn’s reviews until more can be done on this matter. A lot of waiting…
To top it all off, Labour promised not to increase employment income tax, so instead have frozen income tax thresholds, so there is more fiscal drag for everyone. Great!
This budget has kicked all the big decisions down the road for a later time. So, good luck to whoever does the next budget, it’s all been left to you!
Photo by Sam Brodzinski on Unsplash.
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Another Budget of Empty Promises?
Andy Burham, our influencer PM, has stormed into parliament, and when he isn’t reviewing pub snacks on TikTok, he has introduced many small measures to appeal to the working man. The Budget followed the same notion. But in a time of war, a cost of living crisis, and threats from Putin, we need more than small measures.
As the former Defence Secretary, who quit after his £18 billion defence spending request being denied, Healey was surely going to invoke huge investment into defence — wrong. Instead of investing directly from the Treasury, investments will come from the National Wealth Fund and British Business Bank, who have only pledged to invest up to £5bn. He reiterated the aim of three per cent of GDP being spent on defence by 2030 but exact details of how this target will be achieved will have to wait for next year’s spending review. Reiterating previous policies and waiting for reviews are common themes in this year’s budget, and that’s why it is lacking in tangible changes.
How is this budget affecting students? Well, despite Burham’s previous pledge to scrap university fees, there was no mention of this in the budget. What the government is doing instead is keeping the freeze on plan 2 student loan repayment thresholds, causing significant fiscal drag for those who took out loans between 2012 and 2023. Furthermore, many students may not receive the one-off energy payment of £100 being sent directly to the bank accounts of households in Council tax bands A-D, because many are exempt from council tax and the government have not yet confirmed whether this means they will receive this benefit.
How is this budget affecting young people more generally? Firstly, the minimum wage for 18-20 year olds will rise but it will not yet be set to match the national living wage for over 21s, as pledged in the manifesto. Additionally, given the housing crisis, policies were introduced to help young people get on the housing ladder. However, they are full of caveats and some of the changes are taking us a step in the wrong direction, such as the First-time buyer ISA now being capped at £20,000. Moreover, the UK has one of the largest proportions of NEETs (Not in Employment, Education, or Training) in Europe and the policies addressed in this budget, such as quotas, are not enough to fix the systemic issue. We have to wait for Stephen Timms’ and Alan Milburn’s reviews until more can be done on this matter. A lot of waiting…
To top it all off, Labour promised not to increase employment income tax, so instead have frozen income tax thresholds, so there is more fiscal drag for everyone. Great!
AI slop is the new dangerous fad of right-wing politics
This budget has kicked all the big decisions down the road for a later time. So, good luck to whoever does the next budget, it’s all been left to you!
Photo by Sam Brodzinski on Unsplash.
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