Budget Resolutions

Christopher Chope Excerpts

Thursday 27th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee). I thank him for his support for the campaign against the family farm tax, and for his courage in speaking out in favour of abolishing that impost on our farming communities.

It is no exaggeration to say that this is the worst Budget that I have witnessed as a Member of this House, but it generated the best response I have ever heard from the Leader of the Opposition. I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for North West Essex (Mrs Badenoch) on the way that she dealt with it, and I start by referring to her excellent speech. She said:

“the Chancellor has, by her own admission, broken her manifesto promise on income tax. In the last Budget, she said: “I am keeping every single promise on tax that I made in our manifesto, so there will be no extension of the freeze in income tax…thresholds”.

She also said that

“extending the threshold freeze would hurt working people. It would take more money out of their payslips.”—[Official Report, 26 November 2025; Vol. 776, c. 403.]

Yesterday, the Chancellor had the gall to say, in the conclusion of her speech, that she was

“keeping every single one of our manifesto commitments”—[Official Report, 26 November 2025; Vol. 776, c. 399.]

It is hardly surprising that disillusionment with politics and the political system in our country is running so high, when there is that sort of betrayal of not just a manifesto commitment, but even what was said last year. I happened to be, I think, the only Conservative MP at the CBI dinner last year, and I heard the Chancellor say to Rupert Soames, president of the CBI, that she was not coming back for more, that there was a clean slate, and that the Government would not increase taxes. She seems to have disregarded what she said a year ago to the CBI. Was she seduced by Rupert Soames? I do not know. Did she mean what she said, or did she not? It is hardly surprising that people do not trust this Government any longer.

Those who had the misfortune—I do not know whether you ever did, Madam Deputy Speaker—to travel on Belgium’s national airline Sabena developed the acronym “such a bad experience, never again”, and that is exactly the view of those who voted Labour for the first time at the last general election. They are saying, “never again”, because they witness the arrogance, the incompetence, and the downright deceit of this Labour Government.

It is worth putting on record the extent to which taxes are now increasing. Table A.5 in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s “Economic and fiscal outlook” sets that out. I put this in the context of what the Chancellor of the Exchequer said on the “Today” programme this morning. When asked whether she would rule out further tax increases in this Parliament, she declined to answer, and in essence said that she would not, but let us remind ourselves of the tax increases already in the Budget. In 2024-25, income tax was £305.9 billion. It is going up to £410.9 billion by 2029-30, which is an increase of £105 billion, or over one third. National insurance is going up from £171.4 billion to £239.2 billion, an increase of 40% over five years. Business rates are rising from £32.1 billion to £41.9 billion, an increase of 30% over five years. Council tax is rising from £47.4 billion to £63.3 billion over five years, an increase of at least one third. Inheritance tax is rising from £8.3 billion to £13.5 billion, an increase of 60% over five years. It is hardly surprising that people are feeling poorer and betrayed. Very few people will experience increases in their household income of anything like those proportions in the next five years. That is why this Budget is such a disaster and a betrayal of the national interest.

There is also an unhealthy development in the Budget that I hope you, Madam Deputy Speaker, can discuss with Mr Speaker. Many constituencies were mentioned, and Labour Members were identified as having contributed to the Chancellor’s decisions. It struck me that people are now being bought off by the Chancellor in return for their support, and that is an extremely unhealthy development. It is basically what we have seen happening in the United States, and we do not like it at all.