Budget Resolutions

Charlie Maynard Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Charlie Maynard (Witney) (LD)]

The Chancellor said in his speech last week that people were looking to Government

“not to solve all their problems but to give them a bit of breathing space”.—[Official Report, 28 October 2026; Vol. 792, c. 304.]

That may be partly true, but I think it demonstrates the lack of ambition that sits behind this Budget. The Government should be solving the systemic problems in our economy, or at least making a much more serious attempt to do so than we saw last week. Those problems are at the root of why so many families are struggling to make ends meet and so many businesses are failing. When the economy is as damaged as it is, when public sector debt sits at 104% of debt to GDP—according to the International Monetary Fund—when productivity is decreasing, when consumer confidence is down and when housing costs continue to rise, I think it is the Government’s job to do something substantial towards solving the country’s problems.

Make no mistake: the various incremental measures that the Chancellor announced, such as those on household energy bills, will be welcome, but they are not sufficient to

“move the dial on growth”,

in the words of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. As bigger, more difficult decisions are kicked down the road for another time, what my constituents want to know is how they are to absorb another year of no real earnings growth, while mortgage increases are coming down the pipe on the back of a likely Bank of England rate rise this week. My constituents want to know that the public services on which we all rely are safe, and they are not. My constituents want to see genuine hope for a future with better jobs and more opportunities, and they want to know that our food supply is secure and our rural economy will be supported. Across the board, however, this Budget was too unambitious, and ducked the big decisions that our country is crying out for.

Let me give two examples that could “move the dial”. First, the Chancellor’s speech was silent on Britain’s relationship with our biggest trading partner, the European Union. Our country prospers when fair, dynamic markets for goods, services, capital and labour operate effectively. If the Government are serious about our economy and want growth, they should get on with opening negotiations for our country to rejoin the EU now. Secondly, if we are serious about getting our national debt under control, we must look at reforming our fiscal rules. Why? Because they do not work. That is demonstrated by the fact that for the last 25 years there has not been a single year in which tax receipts exceeded spending. Our fiscal rules front-load spending in the early years, and difficult decisions—as epitomised by last week’s Budget—are put off, frequently to the other side of an election. There are good international examples from which we can learn. Other countries, such as Switzerland and Sweden, do this better. I therefore urge the Chancellor to take steps to rejoin the EU, and to establish a cross-party commission exploring more prudent fiscal rules.