Reeves’ budget gets thumbs down from Northern Ireland politicians

British chancellor Rachel Reeves’ budget has received a collective thumbs down from politicians in Northern Ireland. While hardly the worst offence from the genocide-backing, jewellery snatching Labour Party, its many shortcomings have been highlighted by politicians across the ideological spectrum.

There was at least praise across the board for the scrapping of the vile two child benefit cap, which meant families with more than that number of kids wouldn’t receive any additional state support. It was likely the largest driver of child poverty, and Starmer’s blue Tory regime had been so determined to maintain it that they went as far as suspending MPs who voted to scrap it.

Pressure from an ascendant left largely galvanised by Zack Polanski has seemingly forced their hand, however, and Alliance’s Sorcha Eastwood MP acknowledged the value of its abandonment:

For years the two child benefit cap has pushed families into hardship, and its removal represents a long-overdue correction to a cruelly unjust policy.

That aside, she went on to slam the budget’s numerous failings:

Beyond that, today’s Budget once again exemplifies this government’s failure to deliver tangible change.

Reeves’ budget tax band policy makes average earners worse off

She described the freezing of income tax thresholds as a “‘stealth’ tax”. The move effectively means that, as wages rise in terms of raw figures, though not in real purchasing power, more people will end up entering a higher tax bracket, and thus ultimately finish with less in their pocket. She, like Sinn Féin Finance Minister John O’Dowd, bemoaned the refusal to cut VAT on hospitality. The maintenance of the current figure – for a regressive tax that hits average earners disproportionately – is characteristic of a budget that places a continuing unfair burden on the typical taxpayer, rather than the super rich.

Sinn Féin were also critical of the funding provided to the North of Ireland, with O’Dowd saying the sum of £18.8 million in extra funding for this financial year:

…falls far short of what is needed to support the delivery of frontline public services.

The party’s South Tyrone MLA Jemma Dolan acknowledged the overall £370 million of additional funds granted to Stormont was “welcome” but described the budget overall as a:

…missed opportunity to reset public funding in favour of those in most need.

Meanwhile, the Green Party NI was scathing in its criticism of Reeves’ annual plan, saying:

This is a continuity Tory budget dressed up as change. Labour is running scared of the Greens, so we get an empty plan that tinkers at the edges while the crises in inequality, climate and public services deepen.

There is no bold programme to rebuild the NHS, fix housing, transform transport or turbo-charge climate action. Instead of investing at scale in green jobs and warm homes, Labour shuffles money between departments and calls it stability.

Failure on green policy, as Sammy Wilson gets it wrong yet again

They placed particular emphasis on the perverse decision to hike the costs of running an electric vehicle (3p per mile for electric cars and 1.5p per mile for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs)), while freezing fuel duty. They said:

Freezing fuel duty again while slapping pay-per-mile on EVs is backwards. It rewards pollution and punishes cleaner choices. If we are serious about fair funding for roads and cutting emissions, the charge has to apply to all vehicles based on miles driven and impact caused.

Fuel duty doesn’t cover the real costs, and the biggest, heaviest and dirtiest vehicles get away with paying least per mile. A universal pay-per-mile system makes polluters pay, not just EV drivers, and stops government sending signals that keep us stuck in the past.

The broken clocks at the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) managed to emulate a faulty timepiece’s trait of occasionally being right as they too criticised the budget’s management of tax bands. The party’s Parliamentary Finance spokesman and friend of Ali G Sammy Wilson said:

Only last year the Chancellor recognised that freezing thresholds beyond 2028 would “hurt working people”.

He continued:

Today was a missed opportunity to increase the thresholds to reflect the impact of inflation.

It was downhill from there, however, as the paid-up Zionist stooge set about warbling on regarding the need for “bringing down government spending on benefits” and the “government’s net zero theology…driving up our taxes”. It takes some brass neck to go on about misplaced theology when your party backs illegal indoctrination of pupils through enforced Christian dogma in schools.

Budget far short of the ambition needed to fix de-developed Britain

Jim Allister of the Traditional Unionist Voice expressed concern that the additional money provided to Stormont would be swallowed up by existing debt, saying:

The £240m of Barnett consequential for resource spending is already spent by spendthrift Stormont, which is overspent by at least £400m.

He also raised the issue of Agricultural Property Relief, describing it as a “devastating death tax on farms”. The matter was also raised by Sorcha Eastwood, reflecting the significance of the rural economy in the North of Ireland, which plays a major role in employment.

The general theme of criticism of Reeves’ budget’s lack of boldness, a product of a government straitjacketed by its own fiscal rules, and further constrained by its slavish devotion to capital and hatred of the left. As the likes of Polanski and Sultana signal the kind of radical action needed, Starmer and co will only ever offer a sorry simulacrum of their vision and authenticity. It will always be far short of what’s required for those under British rule, who have essentially endured a 15 year austerity-driven period of de-development. The enormous project of reversing that will need more than the confused centrist tinkering of Reeves’ latest offering.

Featured image via the Canary