Sarah Owen
Main Page: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)Budget Resolutions
Sarah Owen Excerpts(1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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Nigel Farage
Nice try! I was just gently teasing, that was all.
We heard “invest, invest, invest” at the start of the Budget statement, and I thought, yes, that is absolutely what we need—not just from the big multinationals that come to smart conferences, but equally from hundreds of thousands of people putting their own risk capital into start-ups and new businesses. But no, this “invest, invest, invest” is going to be done by the Chancellor on our behalf. Not only was she a top economist at the Bank of England, but she is now going to be the fund manager of the nation, investing money and trying to pick winners. I would suggest that the last time Governments attempted to invest money and pick winners, back in the 1970s, it ended very badly indeed.
Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab)
The hon. Gentleman talks about investment in our country and in businesses, but I just question whether he would prefer to have investment from our Government, or investment from maybe the Russian Government.
Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab)
It is an honour to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Gateshead Central and Whickham (Mark Ferguson). He has dedicated his entire life to working people and defending their rights, and it is no different when he is sitting on these Benches.
After today, let no one pigeonhole women in politics or put limits on our ability not only to achieve the highest positions but to deliver, as the Chancellor has today. I hope that in future this will be the norm, and that my daughter will shrug her shoulders and say “Woman Chancellor? So what, mum—that’s normal”, but until that day comes, let us go on celebrating the exceptions that smash through glass ceiling after glass ceiling and, importantly, pass the ladder down. That is the Labour way, as has been demonstrated by this first Labour Budget in 14 long years.
This is a Budget with a positive focus on health, wages and schools, but there are also some very tough decisions. We expected that. No one who has been paying attention to the state of the finances left by the past 14 years of Conservative government would have expected anything different. The Conservatives left a bin fire of waste and self-serving greed, all paid for with taxpayers’ money—not their money but that of the taxpayers, the people we represent. Billions of pounds were wasted on warped priorities that did not just put Tory party before country, but in some sorry cases filled the pockets of former Ministers’ mates before filling the empty stomachs of children being taught in crumbling schools. Anyone who needs proof of how little the Conservatives care about the mess they have left should take a look at the empty Benches opposite me. Not a single Conservative Back Bencher is here. Working people, much?
It seems an age ago, but it was not, when the former Tory Government had to be shamed by campaigners such as the footballer Marcus Rashford into feeding hungry children during the school holidays. Children went hungry while the Tory Government wasted money on reckless experimental budgets and doomed Rwanda schemes. I am proud to say that because of this Labour Government, primary school children in Luton North—where nearly 50% of children grow up below the poverty line—will get a breakfast, so that they, and every child across the country, can start the school day with an appetite only for learning, and not for food.
Free breakfast clubs for children of primary school age will transform many young lives, and also the lives of working parents scrambling for the precious extra minutes of free childcare. There is also £1 billion extra for children with special educational needs. Everyone, of every political stripe, will and should welcome that much-needed investment. Every child given the start in life that they need to succeed: that is the power of a Labour Government, and this is the power of a Labour Budget. But should we really be celebrating stopping children going hungry? Should we have had to fight to show that that was the wrong political choice? Of course not. However, it is not by accident that people in constituencies such as like mine were inflicted by so much financial pain, from stagnating wages to non-existent industrial strategies to local authority cuts—in Luton, to the tune of nearly £190 million.
What a difference a Budget like ours shows: long-term strategies for investment and growth, and no return to the austerity that crippled communities such as mine. Thanks to the rising national minimum wage, 3,300 people in Luton North will be better off. There is £22 billion for the NHS, including £70 million for radiotherapy machines. That will improve poor health outcomes in our region, and will allow staff working at Luton and Dunstable University hospital to help patients more quickly. There is £5 billion of investment in housing, in addition to 33,000 new homes. These programmes will help people in Luton: they will help the more than 8,000 people on waiting lists for council housing.
People have suffered enough, and that is why they voted for change. Delivering these changes will take time, but for once they are not false promises. We know that no Budget can give everyone what they need overnight, but seeing today that this Government are intent on delivering for the people I serve in Luton North gives me not just relief, but genuine hope for our town’s future.