Budget Resolutions

Mary Glindon Excerpts

Thursday 27th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mary Glindon (Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend) (Lab)]

I welcome a number of the announcements in the Chancellor’s Budget addressing the issues affecting my constituents’ lives. Despite the challenging headwinds facing the Exchequer, the Chancellor decided to protect the £120 billion of additional capital investment she set out at the spending review and introduced measures to ease cost of living pressures. Balancing the books by reducing capital spending would be to dismantle growth. The north cannot afford that if the productivity of our major cities like Newcastle is to catch up with European peers.

News on the cost of living is also welcome, with the average family due to save £234 next year from energy support and fuel duty measures. The decision to freeze rail fares and prescription charges will be a sigh of relief for families up and down the country, and I also support the 4.8% increase to the state pension in line with our commitment to the triple lock. On social security, I am delighted by the decision to scrap the two-child benefit cap. This progressive Labour choice builds on the work the Government are already doing on child poverty—the roll-out of universal breakfast clubs, the expansion of free school meals and now the removal of what has been a moral stain on Britain for the past eight years. The Tories reacted with anger; I welcome it wholeheartedly for the 2,940 children in my constituency who will be impacted positively by the measure.

I commend the Chancellor for the steps she has taken on taxing profits made by gambling firms. Remote gambling is associated with the greatest levels of harm. For some, it is not entertainment; it is a rapid decline into addiction, mental health struggles and debt. Yesterday the Government struck the right balance. Land-based gambling is lower stakes and takes place in a more regulated and social environment. The sector is a source of investment for our high streets, which have been beleaguered for a number of years. I am also pleased that those high streets will be supported by the introduction of permanently lower business rates for eligible properties —the lowest tax rates for more than three decades.

While I welcome the introduction of maintenance grants for disadvantaged students, I hope the Government will listen to the higher education sector’s concerns about the proposed international student levy. According to the Office for Students, 45% of universities are set to report a deficit this year. Diverting international tuition revenue at such a fragile moment for the sector could lead to additional course closures, staff redundancies and reductions in student support services. I urge the Government to review the levy mechanism before implementation and to publish full sensitivity analyses using realistic assumptions for international student demand.

While I hope the Treasury will seek to identify alternative sources of funding for maintenance grants, I urge the Government to introduce transitional protections should the proposals be introduced in 2028. I also hope the Treasury will examine the exclusion of PhD researchers from the Government’s expanded childcare offer. Because stipends are not classed as taxable income, they are denied access to that support. Will the Treasury team work with the Department for Education to explore solutions that ensure that researchers receive the same childcare offer as other working families?

On our North sea, I remain deeply concerned about our offshore energy sector. Net zero is our future—there is no denying that—but the transition must be fair, managed and prosperous. David Whitehouse, chief executive of Offshore Energies UK, has warned that waiting beyond 2026 to reform the energy profits levy would

“see 1,000 jobs continue to be lost every month, more energy imports and a contagion across supply chains and our industrial heartlands.”

I echo his words:

“This is not over. We will keep pressing for change”.

I could not make a Budget debate speech without mentioning the vaping industry. Illicit products, under-age sales and rogue retailers undermine public trust in what is the most effective form of smoking cessation. I am pleased that the Government have announced plans to give border officers and tax officials greater powers to tackle the surge of prohibited e-cigarettes on high streets across the country, with police having powers to remove illegal vapes on the spot and to fine shop owners up to £10,000. A licensing scheme would be the icing on the cake.

Politics is about values, which are always tested when the going gets tough. Against a backdrop of challenges, this Government have reaffirmed their moral commitment to tackling poverty and getting our economy back on track.