After months of speculation and plenty of pitch-rolling, the Chancellor finally took to her feet in Parliament on Wednesday to announce the government’s Autumn Budget.
Rachel Reeves has been working to produce a strategy that would be able to satisfy the OBR’s stipulations, without raising income tax.
As a result, much of this year’s Budget was plagued by mishaps, u-turns, and empty promises, leaving members of the public unsure as to what it had actually achieved.
One Sheffield resident said: “It was a bit of a damp squib really, wasn’t it?
“No one’s really going to benefit from it.”
Many have put this down to an absence of courage amongst Labour politicians, particularly surrounding the introduction of an effective wealth tax.
Another local resident said: “We’re just in a slow decline.
“Labour are scared to tax capital and the Green party are obviously gaining more attention because of that.”
Perhaps the biggest change to public spending was the Chancellor’s decision to scrap the two-child benefit cap, which had originally been imposed by the Conservative government back in 2017.
This particular development has enjoyed a strikingly positive response from Labour backbenchers, helping to strengthen Keir Starmer’s leadership after a shaky few weeks.
Another member of the public, who is local to Sheffield, agreed: “People are struggling.
“There’s some pockets of entrenched poverty in Sheffield where it’ll definitely help.”
Breaking with the mainstream narrative, Jesse Matheson, Professor of Economics at the University of Sheffield offered a comparably sympathetic analysis of Reeves’ performance.
While he agreed that this was not a ground-breaking Budget, by any means, he was quick to credit the Chancellor with having done the best that she could, despite a challenging set of circumstances.
Professor Matheson said: “I think it’s turned out as well as it possibly could have for Rachel Reeves.
“I was actually really impressed with how well it was handled politically because this was a really tough Budget.”
