The budget contained a number of positive measures to give people up and down the country much needed breathing room amid an inflation rate of 3.5% for September and with energy bills forecast to raise by 16%. There is also speculation that the U.S. could once more carry out strikes against Iran, further deepening economic shocks and sending energy prices soaring.

Healey’s rabbit out of the hat moment this budget was a £100 energy payment for 20 million households up and down the country for properties in council tax bands A-D.

He also announced that the national minimum wage and national living wage will increase by 3.9% for 2.3 million workers, as well as increasing the threshold for small business rate relief for retail hospitality and leisure businesses from £12,000 to £18,000 – stopping 70,000 businesses from paying them altogether.

You can read a round-up of the budget’s key takeaway’s here. So how did trade unions and MPs react? Here’s some of the reaction below:

Sharon Graham, General Secretary of Unite

Unite has welcomed some of the measures contained in the budget however the union has said that the chance to show tangible change for working-class families struggling with the deep cost of living crisis has been missed.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “As I have been saying repeatedly in my meetings with the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, our members wanted two things from this budget: money in their pockets now, and a plan for investment and jobs.

“Whilst there is some welcome news in this budget – including relief on energy bills and some investment in jobs – these are baby steps rather than a decisive leap forward.

“The noose around the neck of wages, in the shape of frozen tax thresholds, must be dealt with. Started by the Tories in 2022, it is dragging workers into unfair tax bands and reducing disposable income. This cannot continue.”

“This was the government’s first big chance to show real tangible change. The window to win back the working class will not stay open for long.”

Bolder policies needed to make PM’s vision reality, says UNISON

Responding to the budget today UNISON general secretary Andrea Egan said: “From taxing the banks to grappling with energy bills, there’s much to welcome in this budget. Making the uplift in mileage rates permanent will make a real difference to public service workers.

“But this was the government’s first chance to turn the prime minister’s historic ambition for a new economic settlement into action. On that count it falls short.

“To improve ordinary people’s everyday lives in a way that lasts, the government needs to move beyond small fixes and deal with the fundamental causes of the miseries so many face.

“There’s no doubt about what’s needed: undoing privatisation, ending the scourge of outsourcing and making the wealthiest pay their fair share to properly fund public services. It all follows from the prime minister’s powerful analysis.” 

“The prime minister needs to trust his own ideas and defy the forces trying to bind him to economic orthodoxy. A confrontation with the vested interests that profit from the status quo can only be deferred for so long.”

Community Union welcomes action on tackling the cost of living crisis

Community General Secretary Alasdair McDiarmid said: “Under difficult global conditions, the Chancellor has published a budget that follows in the traditions of the labour movement. 

“He has minimised damage to the wallets of working people and continued the path of re-balancing our economy so that all regions and nations benefit from our national prosperity. 

“Community welcomes the impactful measures that the Chancellor has prioritised, such as capping bus fares, removing charges on household energy bills and granting thousands of our members a £100 energy payment this winter. These will give millions of workers much-needed breathing space during a cost-of-living crisis. 

“The extension of Statutory Paternity Pay to 150,000 individuals is particularly welcome to our self-employed members who Community has long argued require greater social protections in times of need. 

“The Chancellor promised a budget that would provide breathing space. We have seen that budget delivered today.”

Reacting to the budget Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said: “I’ve said since my first day as Defence Secretary that I trust this Chancellor to give us what we need to keep our country safe. Today demonstrates why.

“We’re delivering the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War. Today the Chancellor not only restated our NATO commitment to spend 3.5% of GDP by 2035, but also to spend 3% by 2030.”

Energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said: “40 years of failed energy policies have driven us to this point.

“If we want a system that’s fair, affordable & works for the British people – we need public control.

“Today’s Budget is about giving people breathing space while we fix the broken system & put the public in control.”

Labour MP John McDonnell said: “The Chancellor described today’s budget as a “breathing space” budget. The individual measures to help on the cost of living crisis on energy, housing and food are very welcome but the important issue now is how the time secured as a breathing space is used to address the pressures people are under. The Spending Review next year is the opportunity to develop a radical agenda to deliver the investment needed in our economy and public services and to secure a tax system that redistributes wealth at scale to overcome the levels of inequality and poverty in our society.”

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But for many, this Budget won’t have gone far enough. While it includes measures aimed at easing the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, the Chancellor stopped short of broader tax rises on corporations, while his windfall tax on banks will be only temporary.

Here’s a rundown of what was in Healey’s first Budget today:

1. £100 towards energy bills for millions of households

The Chancellor used his Budget to announce that the government will give 20 million households £100 towards their energy bills this winter. Those in council tax bands A to D will receive the subsidy, which Healey said will be “paid directly into people’s bank accounts to deal with rising energy bills”. Healey said the £2.6 billion scheme will help “to take the pressure off in the coldest months and see people through to the spring”.

The Burnham government’s VAT cut on electricity, which had been expected to end in March 2027, will be extended to July – taking “£50 off the annual price cap”, Healey said. 

Healey also said the government will abolish the gas standing charge, which costs households an average of £108 per year, “from next year”. He said there will be “similar reforms to follow” for electricity.

Alongside these measures, Healey said the government will deliver radical reform of the energy market to produce cheaper power. This includes the government vowing to only approve energy projects that will lower energy bills and can be connected to the national grid.

2. Minimum wage increase confirmed

Healey announced that the minimum wage for over 21s will go up by 3.9% to £13.21 an hour on 1 April next year. The government has said the uplift represents an increase of £910 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the National Living Wage. The 18-20 National Minimum Wage will increase from £10.85 to £11.27.

In a move that will help pensioners, Healey also confirmed that pensioners receiving up to £13,040 a year (the value of the full state pension from April 2027) will not have to pay tax on that income. In good news for savers, Healey announced he would drop Rachel Reeves’ plan to reduce the ISA tax-free allowance from £20,000 to £12,000 a year from next April. 

3. Business rate relief

The business rate relief threshold has been increased from £12,000 to £18,000 for business in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. Healey declared that “this means half (around 70,000 businesses) of our shops, restaurants and gyms will pay no business rates at all”.

“For all other businesses in these sectors, their business rates will be frozen in real terms so that none face an above inflation rise for the next two years,” he said. Healey said the government will pay for this policy with a tax rise on machine gains duty from 20% and 25%.

4. Increase in tax on banks

To pay for the support with people’s energy bills, Healey said the surcharge tax on banks’ profits will rise from 3% to 6% for 15 months. He said: “I’ve made my choice at this Budget: asking a bit more of our banks to support ordinary people, raising taxes on gambling to support good growth on every high street.”

Banks were poised for an increase in this windfall tax, and the sector appeared to have expected it to be higher, and to last for longer. The Trades Union Congress had been calling for a windfall tax of at least 8%, and has suggested that the government adopt either a 16% tax on bank profits, or a 35% surcharge to generate £60 billion over four years. Following the announcement, banks’ share prices increased, suggesting that investors had feared tougher measures.

5. £10 billion increase in defence spending for Ukraine

John Healey announced £10 billion in additional “economic and military support” for Ukraine including “half a billion in urgent military funding for this winter”.

Healey said that he and Prime Minister Andy Burnham ​had spoken to Ukrainian President ​Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the budget and that ‌Zelenskyy “told ⁠us ‘you’ve made my day'”. This is the biggest financial package the UK has given to Ukraine since Russia’s fullscale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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He announced the support ahead of what is expected to be the biggest rise in household energy bills in four years.

Healey told the Commons: “I know that with the conflict in the Middle East, rising energy bills are a real worry. I know that people look to government at times like this, not to solve all their problems, but to give them a bit of breathing space.

“So today I’m taking one further step: this winter for 20 million households in council tax bands A to D, I’m announcing a £100 energy payment for households.”

The money will be paid directly into people’s bank accounts. The scheme will cost around £2.6billion and help “take pressure off” people with soaring bills over the upcoming winter months.

The government also announced today that standing charges on gas bills will be scrapped from next year.

Healey also announced a raise in the threshold for small business rate relief from £12,000 to £18,000 – paid for by increasing taxes on gambling and vape shops which will lift 70,000 more businesses out of paying business rates.

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During a debate in the Commons on Monday, Jones told MPs: “The only conclusion I can come to is that the business model is not fit for purpose, and we should not be shy in coming forward and saying this: the privatisation of the Royal Mail and its separation from the Post Office was a mistake.

“The coalition government got this wrong, and so I hope it will now turn to this Labour government to put it right.”

He said: “If ministers agree with me that privatisation of the Royal Mail was a failure, then the only other real option is to renationalise it.

“The House may be surprised to hear me, of all people, say that – I am not a natural fan of the government borrowing yet more money to nationalise businesses that can be effectively run by the private sector.

“But this has been proven: the Royal Mail is an example of a business that cannot be run effectively by the private sector, think carefully about the end of this public service, because once it is gone it will not come back.”

Jones went on to add: “A Royal Mail back in public hands. Reintegrated with the post office network, a tangible example of change in every postcode.”

In the debate, Ian Lavery, the Labour MP for Blyth and Ashington, said: “A postal service isn’t a luxury, it’s an essential, critical public service.

“It should exist to serve the public interest, not simply the interests of the market.

“And if the private ownership cannot deliver the reliable universal service that people have every right to expect, then the government must be prepared to act…

“Renationalise the Royal Mail and see how that develops.”

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Standing charges are a fixed daily levy added regardless of how much gas has been used and will be scrapped for around 23 million homes.

The Treasury claims removing this fee will save 60% of households an average of £45 a year.

Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis has regularly criticised the standing charges, calling them an “energy poll tax”.

The chancellor said: “Gas standing charges are unfair and outdated so I am scrapping them to give millions of households a bit of breathing space.

“My Budget will draw a line in the sand on an energy policy that has failed British billpayers for years, letting extra costs on bills pile high and leaving households even more exposed to global shocks.”

Healey will ask Ofgem to remove the blanket fees and instead move the charges onto unit costs by 2027 or as soon as possible after.

It is part of a number of measures aimed at helping families with the cost of living crisis.

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A budget is many things. It is an economic blueprint and tax policy document yes, but it is also a signal of Government priorities and a shout-out to the causes it believes in.

From the pre-budget whispers I’m hearing, the main signal seems to be “don’t rock the boat!”. Tinkering around the edges with a small tax on banks here, a tax on online marketplaces there, a small giveaway to pensioners, and some measures to tackle the cost of living.

The ‘everyday fixes’ expected in the budget include measures such as the removal of import tariffs on gherkins. Cheaper gherkins are all well and good, but do not address the major structural problems in our country.

It contrasts with the bold rhetoric of the Prime Minister in his first few months in office. Proportional Representation, the end of the triple lock, a new deal with Europe, with free Movement and maybe even rejoining on the cards.

Biggest of all, he has promised a National Care Service. As Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, I have shouted loudly for action on Social Care.

The costs of inaction are enormous; unpaid carers under enormous strain to the extent they are
unable to hold onto their jobs, delayed discharges costing the NHS a fortune, and millions simply not having their needs met. But warm words alone aren’t going to cut it.

Like so many of Burnham’s promises, it is planned after the next election. Why
wait 3 years, why not take action now?

And some things really can’t wait at all – young people being top of that list. It is worth putting yourself in the shoes of someone who is in their early twenties. At the pointy end of school when Covid hit, they suffered through the uncertainties of GCSEs and A-Levels under lockdown. University places, apprenticeship and employment opportunities were snatched away at the hands of an unfair, opaque, and systematically biased algorithm.

For those who went to university, what should have been some of the best years of their lives were reduced to zoom lectures and confinement to the bubble of their flat. Isolated, dealing with the toxicity of social media without the escape normally available.

Now, just emerging blinking into the job market, they are hit with a Government made crisis, between the Tories botched Brexit deal to the Reeves budget that hiked National Insurance contributions small businesses just don’t have the headroom to offer those precious first jobs anymore. Where is the future which was promised to them by their elders for getting good grades and working hard?

Many are burdened with student loans which are manifestly unfair, with spiralling debts, excessive interest rates and frozen repayment thresholds. We should be lowering the monthly payments, increasing repayment thresholds, and supporting public service workers and disadvantaged students who desperately need relief. 

It is no wonder that the mental health of our young people is suffering. The Health and Social Care Committee’s current inquiry is examining mental health support and services provided in education and community settings. The picture is bleak. 

Waiting times are so high that in some cases with a years-long wait list the service may as well not exist. The severity of needs is continuing to rise, and a large proportion of people never receive the help they need. 

What is so frustrating is that I have seen best practice which shows that it does not have to be this way. In the East Midlands, one CAMHS service has reduced referral wait times to less than five days. Early Support Hubs such as the one I visited in Devon, with a walk-in, holistic service for young people’s mental health have made a huge difference to young people. But the Government drags its feet over funding the limited number that exist every year. 

Best practice should instead be rolled out nationwide.  This would require the Government to look at long term benefits, rather than short term balance sheets. For young people who contact me, it is often the long term that really concerns them. 

The destructive and remorseless juggernaut of climate change, the effects of which are being felt ever more keenly. The worry over job prospects in a world being overtaken by AI. A world that feels less safe, and less secure every day. 

To tackle these require long term thinking. Investment in services such as those Early Support Hubs, whose benefits won’t be felt tomorrow, or even in five years time, but in the long run we know that it will make all the difference in the world. 

I challenge the Chancellor to do today what very few Governments have the courage to do. Avoid the short-term sugar rush of fleeting measures that look good in a newspaper. Instead, think long-term.

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Compared to last year, this Budget season has been remarkably quiet – dozens upon dozens of floated tax policies replaced with almost deafening silence, save Chancellor Healey’s ruling out of Capital Gains Tax equalisation (despite this being called for by large swathes of his own party, leading economists and investors themselves). At the same time, we now have a Prime Minister with vast ambitions compared to his predecessor – ending 40 years of Neoliberalism, creating a National Care Service, investment and growth in every postcode.

To raise the funds needed to turn these words to action and tackle the wealth inequality gripping this country, the Government must use this week’s Budget to tax extreme wealth and corporations profiting off a cost of living crisis. This will require structural tax reform, which means going much further than simply reversing a cut to the banking surcharge imposed under former Tory Chancellor Jeremy Hunt. 

Nigel Lawson equalised Capital Gains Tax with Income Tax rates, rightly understanding that there was no moral or economic reason for different kinds of income to be taxed differently. Healey must look at this option, alongside applying employee NICs to income from wealth and partnerships, following the same logic – equal treatment of income regardless of source. These two measures would raise £19.7bn and £6.1bn respectively by the end of the parliament – more than enough to fully fund a National Care Service, free at point of use (£18.5bn), as well as promoting economic growth by reducing distortions in the tax system. 

Importantly for a government that needs to build unity across the factions of the Labour Party and the broader progressive side of politics; CGT equalisation is backed by both the centre Growth Group, the Soft Left Tribune Group, the Socialist Campaign Group and many Liberal Democrats – this can unlock billions in revenue, promote growth and unite the Labour Party – which has been wracked by division since coming to power. 

Healey must also get our tax system and administration in order. We spend more than £200bn a year on tax reliefs, many of which like the Patent Box are unjustified giveaways to global multinationals, and have a £60bn tax gap – the difference between what HMRC should be collecting and what it actually receives. 

By getting our leaky sieve of a tax system in order, and investing in HMRC capacity and powers over the remainder of the parliament, the government would be in position to implement an annual wealth tax of 2% on those with more than £10m in assets, raising over £24bn a year – even accounting for any behaviour responses. Whilst not possible at this Budget, this would be achievable within 3 years – in time for the next General Election.  

Collectively, these measures could raise upwards of £70bn a year – enough to fully fund a National Care Service, build 100,000 council houses a year, restore central government funding to local government back to 2010 levels, fully fund sure start, fill the core schools funding gap, introduce free school meals for all pupils, and fund a cost-of-living package, with several billion left to spare. 

Burnham came into No10 with big promises about how he’d do things differently, to reset Britain and end neoliberalism. And the scale of the problem is widespread – from the cost of living crisis to profiteering in almost every aspect of our lives. So this Budget can’t be about half measures or poster campaigns to tackle minor annoyances. This has to be a moment that kickstarts a rewiring of the economy and the state. Failing to deliver this will spell trouble and could quickly deflate Burnham’s bounce.

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Before it’s even happened, this week’s Budget is being labelled low-key and boring. After three months of big promises under Andy Burnham’s new leadership, the mood around the country’s biggest fiscal event feels remarkably flat. 

Now is not the time to slow down. There is no doubt that people and small businesses need breathing space from the cost-of-living crisis and I would welcome a Budget that delivers on that – but crumbs of support are not going to fix this country long-term. If the Prime Minister and the Chancellor are serious about giving people a better future, they need our country to be built on a fair, thriving and sustainable economy, with a tax system that makes sure those who can most afford to, pay their fair share. But right now taxes are the opposite of this, asking too much of small businesses and working people, and too little of the very richest, like me.

Taxing wealth properly isn’t radical or even controversial, in fact, it is widely supported. Three quarters of UK millionaires polled said that to ensure the UK is a place they are proud to live in, they would be willing to pay more tax. And 75% of the public support a 2% tax on wealth over £10 million.

We should all feel hope and pride about the country we live in. But when income from work is taxed higher than income from wealth, it’s no wonder the public feel ripped off. The Chancellor has the opportunity to unlock an economy that works for everybody, by delivering on the Prime Minister’s pledge to draw a line under trickle down economics once and for all. 

Equalising Capital Gains Tax with Income Tax and closing loopholes should be step one. Not only would it level the playing field, by taxing wealth like work, this reform would raise £19.7bn for our country by 2029-30 according to CenTax’s latest estimate. The Chancellor should also forge a clear pathway towards a 2% annual wealth tax on assets over £10 million, raising around £24 billion a year and affecting only the very wealthiest 0.04% of the UK’s population. 

This is about so much more than just raising revenues – it’s about tackling the deep-rooted inequality which is holding this country back and building a more equal future for everyone. 

The Prime Minister knows the tax system is broken – and has said so himself. Almost 12 months ago, ahead of the 2025 Autumn Budget, Patriotic Millionaires UK toured the country on our “tax us the super-rich” campaign bus, urging the Chancellor to tax our wealth. When we stopped in Manchester, Andy Burnham, then Mayor of Greater Manchester, came to meet us. In an interview, he told us: “In this country we overtax people’s work and we undertax wealth.” Now he leads our country and has the power to fix it. That fix to our economy should start this week, with this Budget.

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The 1997 Labour government brought about something of a golden age in public support for the arts. Then culture secretary Chris Smith MP, with the help of a young special adviser called Andy Burnham, began to increase the Arts Council England’s grants budget substantially every year. It was nearly twice the size when Burnham was himself appointed secretary of state for culture a decade later.

It is often heard among the arts sector today that such a big investment was an anomaly. That our industries were the passive beneficiaries of a period of unprecedented growth, which provided lots of cash for ‘nice to haves’. But now there are too many other priorities and too few resources to consider the arts.

The pessimists have short memories. Chancellor Healey, our eighth in ten years, would do well to ask his new boss in No.10 why it was that he was so committed to investing in the arts in his early political career and what the last Labour government felt our creative industries could contribute. The new prime minister’s reply might address three themes.

First, the arts are a producer of growth, not just a product of it. In 2022, the UK arts sector alone contributed £49billion GVA to our economy. Every creative job generates an additional two jobs in the local area over twenty years. The Society of London Theatre finds that every £1 spent on theatre generates £1.40 in the local economy. Our film and TV workforce attracts £7bn in inward investment and generates £1bn at the UK box office. Creative industry exports are worth £60bn.  A government seeking growth cannot ignore the role that arts and entertainment investment plays in delivering it.

The government is not just seeking growth however, but ‘growth in every post code’. The last Labour government recognised the critical role that the arts could play in driving devolution, through regional creative industries policies, the Regional Development Agencies, screen agencies and Arts Council England. Over the period, the arts became an important medium for the transfer of power and decision-making away from Westminster and national recognition for the full diversity of places and cultures across the UK.

The expansion of strategic authorities today and the inclusion of ‘culture’ within their competencies presents an opportunity to progress this project further. Strategic authorities should have a greater role in coordinating and developing their arts and entertainment economies, drawing Arts Council England grant spending, local government arts funding, support for Culture Priority Places, local jobs plans, and Public Service Broadcasting investment together into a coherent economic framework. One that would generate jobs through increased artistic production and offer more opportunity for local people to see themselves reflected in cultural life. Decent arts provision was once devolution’s forerunner and should now be so again.

Finally, the last Labour government recognised that public support for the arts could help to realise social policy objectives, whether through economic regeneration, tackling social exclusion, strengthening community bonds or fostering diverse local cultures and pride of place. Though the far-right’s recent precipitous rise appears to have plateaued for now, the drivers of their support, and the threat that they pose to our social fabric, have not gone away.  The arts has a role here, in revitalising economically depressed areas, providing a new focus for communities to rally around and offering a chance for all to share in the cultures and experiences of others. This seems more important now than ever.

Each of these themes has been tried and tested by the previous Labour governments in which Andy Burnham served. The academic analyses are already published and the evidence bases built. So next time the chancellor asks colleagues in No.11 why he should prioritise the arts in his budget, perhaps the best person to answer is the man living next door.

Image credit: Simon Dawson / Number 10 – Creative Commons

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The UK economy continues to struggle after the legacy of an incompetent and chaotic Conservative government, which left us in a weak position to deal with global events. Tory and Lib Dem austerity, Boris’ bad Brexit deal and Liz Truss’ disastrous budget all contributed to leaving the UK economy vulnerable to the impact of conflicts across the world and climate change. We welcome the steps that Labour has already announced to help save our shops, tackle the cost of living crisis, help make work pay and reform Universal Credit, but there is still much more to do.

Usdaw members, who are key workers serving their communities, continue to suffer as a result of the cost of living. This is reflected in our most recent cost of living survey results from over 7,500 Usdaw members, highlighting a worrying number of low-income workers relying on unsecured loans to meet the cost of everyday essentials: 1 in 4 have struggled to pay everyday bills in the last 12 months and have had to rely on borrowing. A quarter of this was using unsecured borrowing such as payday loans or buy-now-pay-later services. 59% said financial worries are having an impact on their mental health.

Listening to our members’ very real experiences illustrates the scale of the problem: “We are in debt with essential household bills such as energy costs and council tax. We’re now stuck in a never-ending cycle of not being able to gain control of our debts, despite earning enough on paper, as we’re constantly chasing our tails and so overwhelmed”. “Wages stay the same, yet bills go up, food goes up; it makes it hard to be able to pay bills and for travel to work and then comfortably afford to buy a food shop”. “There’s no cushion. If something happened to my car, how would I get to work? I start at 5:30am and public transport doesn’t run that early. How would I pay to get it fixed? I’d have to spend £20 on a taxi to work knowing in my mind that my 5.5-hour shift has just been cut to 3.5 hours’ worth of pay because I’ve spent £25-£30 on transport. It’s a real worry”.

In the last 12 months, nearly a quarter of Usdaw members have had to cut back on heating or electricity use, as a result of financial pressures. With energy prices rising, we are extremely concerned that this pressure will be exacerbated and more low-income households will be forced to choose between heating or eating. We welcome the government’s action to cut VAT on electricity bills but we believe that this does not go far enough, nor is it sufficiently targeted. The government must put in place support for households facing energy debt and help with bills for those who need it most.

The Employment Rights Act will help make work pay and improve job security if delivered in full, and we will be looking to the chancellor to announce another substantial increase in minimum wage rates to reflect the cost of living and end rip-off youth pay. Usdaw has participated in the government’s review of paid parental leave, to help transform the support working parents receive, and we welcome the expansion of childcare provision delivered by Labour. We are calling for substantial reform of Universal Credit to build on the success of abolishing the two-child limit.

Job security is a key priority for our members. We support the government’s commitment to ‘growth in every postcode’ and the retail sector has a significant role to play in delivering this. We welcome the action the government has already taken in reducing business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues. Alongside this, Labour has a manifesto commitment to level the playing field between the high street and online giants. So, confirmation from the chancellor that the government will be producing a high streets strategy is welcome, but it is essential that it is linked to the wider industrial strategy, including exempting large physical retail premises from the higher rates multiplier. 

A fairer tax system is needed so that we can rebuild our public services without placing additional burdens on low-paid workers. There is strong public support for the wealthiest paying their fair share of tax. The freezing of thresholds until 2031 brings millions of workers and pensioners into either paying tax for the first time or increasing the amount they pay, putting more strain on low-income households. The government needs to take the impact of this into consideration and look at whether there are alternative ways to raise the much-needed funding for investment in our public services.

Times are too tough for too many and this needs to be a Budget that addresses the very real issues that impact workers. Pay, hours and job security are the real priorities for our members.

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