SWBG blog

Women’s Voices on the UK Budget: Reflections from Our Economic Empowerment Project

In this blog, our Training Lead, Heather Williams, shares the reflections of the women who are taking part in our second Economic Empowerment project.

What is a budget? This one, like those that have gone before, was a political occasion, except this was one that had been played out in the press for weeks before, with one policy trailed after another, testing the mood of the ‘nation’, or more accurately of the press pack and the opposition. 

As the Chancellor stood last Wednesday to make her statement, was her priority ensuring the lines on the spreadsheet added up providing enough fiscal head room to keep the markets happy? Was it about keeping Labour MPs onside and keeping manifesto commitments? Was it about creating some positive headlines for what is seen by many in the press as a failing administration or about making decisions which make life better for people across the UK? In reality, it was probably about all of these.  

But how did the decisions made land with a group of women from across Scotland? Our women’s economic empowerment group had mixed feelings about the Chancellor’s statement.  They were pleased that the two-child limit had been abolished.  Despite some of the headlines of the national newspapers about this being a budget for benefits street, there was a recognition of how self-defeating pushing children into poverty was as a policy choice.  

The Chancellor’s statement that we will all have to pay a little more was questioned about what a little more to Rachel Reeves would look like for those on low incomes and how effective the measures she was taking to reduce household costs would be.  There was little hope in the group that changes would curb the ever-increasing costs that households are facing. 

The silence from the Chancellor on care was deafening!  A quick check on the words used in her hour-long speech shows that she used the word tax 75 times, investment 36 and care on four occasions.  The lack of any mention about the social care sector, which is crumbling across the UK, highlights an inability across governments to understand that investment in this area is needed if we are to generate economic growth. 

The decision to limit the types of cars that can be accessed through the mobility scheme was a sop to the red tops and their mantra that the UK is a country of shirkers and strivers.  That shirkers shouldn’t be rewarded. This policy change won’t save the treasury a penny as the amount subsidised is the same if a disabled person uses it for a BMW or a Ford.  All this decision does is send the message that disabled people don’t deserve to have access to the same things as others in society as they are seen as shirkers, an example of groups being pitched against each other.  

Another lesson from this budget is never believe a politician that tells you that they will not raise taxes!  Or who treats tax like it’s a shameful thing failing to recognise the contribution taxes make towards the services we receive.

Some of the women on this group have direct experience of the harm caused by the failure to invest in public services.  They were clear that further investment was needed particularly in areas like social housing, social care and violence against women services. As we look forward to the Scottish Government’s budget statement in January, these are some of the areas women hope to hear more about than we did from the Chancellor.