Budget Resolutions

Andrew Cooper Excerpts

Thursday 27th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Cooper (Mid Cheshire) (Lab)]

This Budget is about building an economy that works for working people and families, not returning to the short-term decisions of the previous Government, which left public services stretched and household finances fragile. I welcome the fact that the Government are choosing stability, fairness and long-term investment, because strengthening our country begins with putting people first. Prior to the general election, the two issues that my constituents mentioned more than any others were living costs and the state of the NHS. I am proud that, under this Government, progress has already been made on both, but while much has been achieved, there is much more to do.

Since coming into office, the Government have begun turning the tide on NHS waiting times, after years of record backlogs. For the first time in 15 years, waiting lists have started to fall; there are more than 230,000 fewer people waiting for treatment, and over 5 million extra appointments have been delivered. In Mid Cheshire, the ultra-long 65-week-plus waits are on target to be eliminated by the end of the year.

Alongside that, the NHS 10-year plan is transforming care by shifting services into communities, embracing digital innovation and focusing on prevention. Families in my constituency are already beginning to feel the impact of that progress. In Northwich, the new Cheshire and Merseyside surgical centre has opened at the Victoria infirmary. It will treat 12,000 patients each year, including a large number of high-volume, low-complexity cases, to bear down on waiting lists further. Meanwhile, Leighton hospital’s rebuild—which was shamefully delayed by the previous Government, despite the dangerous reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete issues hanging over the hospital—is not only fully funded, but moving on apace. I share the Government’s commitment to ensuring that patients receive timely treatment, staff have the tools that they need to deliver it, and the public can rely on an NHS that works for everyone.

The Budget also addresses one of the most pressing challenges facing families: the cost of living. Rising prices have put pressure on household budgets. Over the past year, action has been taken to ease everyday costs. That action includes the largest increase in the national minimum wage in years, free breakfast clubs in hundreds of primary schools—including not one, two, three or four but five in Mid Cheshire—and expanded energy support through the warm homes discount. For households in my constituency, those measures help to stabilise family finances, support working parents and ensure that children start the school day ready to learn.

The Budget goes further by delivering stronger cost of living support through targeted measures for low-income households. We could talk about the rise in the national minimum wage, which will help working families, or about the scrapping of levies from energy bills, saving families £150 on average next year and reducing pressure on their budgets, but the removal of the two-child benefit cap, which will lift nearly half a million children out of poverty, including 2,420 across Middlewich, Winsford and Northwich, will be most significant. Labour believes that every child should have the opportunity to reach their full potential—that someone’s background and circumstances, and who they know or where they come from, should not shape their life more than their talent, creativity and determination. As Gordon Brown said,

“The two-child benefit cap was a scar on the country’s soul”.

I will be proud to be a Labour Member when we vote to scrap it.

Together, those steps will boost household incomes in my constituency and across the country, providing families with not just short-term relief but lasting financial confidence. Our priorities—reducing debt, strengthening the NHS and tackling the cost of living crisis—are interconnected. A stable economy enables investment in public services. A stronger NHS supports a healthier, more productive population. Easing cost pressures gives families the confidence to plan for the future. Together, they form a coherent strategy for long-term prosperity.

The measures announced in the Budget will help to build a stronger economy, a healthier NHS and a fairer society, and will deliver tangible improvements for Mid Cheshire and communities across the country.