Last week, the Labour government had a choice. Either to cut spending, live within their means and ease the burden on working people. Or raise taxes, raise spending and ask the British people to pick up the tab.
Sadly, for Suffolk and the UK, it chose the latter.
After her last £40 billion tax grab a year ago, Rachel Reeves promised the nation "we don’t need to come back for more, we’ve done that now."
But – true to form – on Wednesday, Labour did what Labour always does, shirk the tough decisions and try and tax and spend their way out of the nation’s difficulties.
I’m just old enough to remember the 1970s, I was at school at the time.
I remember the winter of discontent and Labour’s disastrous meddling in free markets. I remember the impact socialism had on our economy and my father’s business.
It was a period of "stagflation" – a prolonged combination of stagnation in the economy and high inflation.
In short, it was economic turmoil. After that, the Labour Party didn’t get into power for 18 years. Now we are being reminded, once again, of the dangers the Labour Party poses to our economy.
This parliament is not even 18 months old, and it is already the biggest tax-raising parliament since the 1970s.
Too many of the 2024 intake of Labour MPs are playing student politics, too young to remember the horrors of the 1970s, and are blocking Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves taking tough decisions.
They’ve refused to allow them to cut welfare spending, in fact they’ve increased it by lifting the two-child cap on child benefit, and reform after reform is being kicked into the long grass.
Tax thresholds are being frozen, dragging millions into higher tax brackets. A step, a year ago, Reeves claimed would "hurt working people." Energy bills are up. Food bills are up.
The tax burden is its highest on record and Britain’s welfare state is set to surpass £400 billion per year.
There can be no doubt, for anyone, that Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have broken their manifesto commitment not to raise taxes for working people.
They’ve raised taxes on savers, on people putting aside money for their pension, on landlords, on taxis, on family homes and even on milkshakes.
All to avoid making tough decisions and to pay for welfare handouts.
Hidden deep in the detail of recent announcements, we’ve seen the government has gone back on their ‘fairer funding’ proposals for local councils, following outcry from Labour MPs representing London boroughs and inner cities.
As a result, early analysis suggests that, by the end of this parliament, the local government system in Suffolk will be £32 million worse off.
These changes will make life harder for the county council and harder for our district and borough councils too.
Looking ahead to local government reorganisation, these funding changes make the prospect of breaking Suffolk into three even more frightening.
We already know smaller unitary councils would face greater financial pressure and this reduction in funding would see them all the more likely to cut local services or fail entirely.
Prior to the budget, we wrote to all of Suffolk’s Labour MPs urging them to put pressure on the chancellor to support Suffolk’s councils.
Only Jack Abbott replied but not to reassure us or offer kind words.
Instead, Jack launched into a bragging list of all the things he claims Labour have done for Ipswich and a diatribe about the county council.
He concluded by saying he was confident that Ipswich and Suffolk would receive a "welcome boost" in the budget.
Sadly, the opposite has occurred. As leader of the county council, I meet with business representatives a lot.
We’ve some amazing and innovative businesses in Suffolk, small and large, but they’re all swimming against the tide. The message from them is clear, you can’t tax your way to growth.
More tax and excessive regulation stifles business. More tax on working people leaves less in their pockets to spend, whether that’s going out for a meal, visiting the cinema or buying a present for a loved one.
Suffolk’s businesses are feeling this impact. One sector, in particular, deserves special mention – hospitality.
Suffolk is a destination county, one for whom tourism is a huge part of our local economy.
Following the budget, we are already seeing horror stories about what the combination of business rates revaluations and reduced rate relief will do.
According to trade body UK Hospitality, rateable values have risen by as much as 76 per cent for accommodation and 30 per cent for pubs.
This, in combination with tax relief for hospitality ending in April 2026, poses a real risk to this vital sector.
Hospitality businesses are in urgent need of relief and Rachel Reeves’ autumn budget has piled on the pressure – it is incumbent on all of us to stand up and shout about how vital it is to Suffolk.
On this, and other issues, the government needs to change course fast. They have prioritised benefit handouts over working people, taxation over growth and inner cities over rural areas.
The budget was not only a breach of Labour’s manifesto commitments – it was a failure of leadership. A failure that will remind a new generation of voters never to elect a Labour government again.
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