Mansions, milkshakes and the minimum wage: Labour’s 2025 budget

庄园、奶昔和最低工资:工党的2025年预算

Today in Focus

2025-11-27

24 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

After so much buildup, Rachel Reeves has finally unveiled her budget, but will it be enough to turn things around for the government? Our economics editor, Heather Stewart, reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus
更多

单集文稿 ...

  • This is The Guardian.

  • Today, a mansion tax and the end of the two-channeled welfare cap.

  • Is this budget a return to labour values?

  • Rarely, if ever, has a budget had so much build-up.

  • For weeks, the signals from the Treasury seemed clear.

  • As economists predict, she will raise taxes in her budget.

  • Obviously, we'll lay our hands at the budget.

  • For weeks, there's been speculation about what was going to be in it.

  • The threat of a mansion tax on 150,000 homeowners who could be hit by Labour's proposed mansion tax.

  • And what wasn't?

  • The fresh chatter around a bank tax as reported Businesses watching House buyers waiting MPs and ministers bickering And behind it all a government that didn't seem to know itself At one point flirting with the idea of raising income tax Breaking a manifesto commitment We will all have to contribute to that effort Each of us must do our bit And then stepping back in the face of fierce opposition from their own back benches I think it is really important that we stick to our manifesto and that we keep the promises that we've made to the public.

  • It all felt shambolic, disorganised, needlessly messy.

  • That led to this bombshell report we had last night that income tax was being dropped.

  • Markets did not like that.

  • Very big drop when we opened this morning after we heard the news about change of policy and yet another U-turn.

  • And then finally, finally, on Wednesday,

  • Rachel Reeves opened her red box to try and put it all behind her.

  • But did she do enough to convince voters that she and the government know what they're doing?

  • From The Guardian, I'm Helen Pitt, today in Focus.

  • Everything you need to know about Rachel Weaves' second budget.