Am I the only one that thinks that the budget is good?!

[isitactuallybadthough]

NC’d for obvious reasons.

I mean it seems that they’re trying to help the working class?

I am not on benefits. I’m also not lucky enough to live in a property worth over £2,000,000. But surely the worst off in society will be better off under this? With the energy bill cut and two child benefit scrap? Also books for libraries, national wage increases. I do understand people feeling frustrated at the pension/ISA parts, that will probably affect DH and I but overall I’m pleased as the worst off will be slightly less worse off?

Possibly. Recognising the post war baby boom is a temporary situation and plam how to deal with it on that basis. Rather than increase the population permantly for what is a temporary effect. The planet doesn't need.more people because we are running out resources.

@TeenagersAngst

Just better fed… 😬

I did always wonder why the wealthy starved their children, now I know it’s so they do better at school and get better jobs.

There’s a wealth of independent research on the link between child poverty, particularly nutrition, and academic attainment.

I thought the myth of welfare dependency had largely been dispelled and as for rewarding fertility https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11113-025-09935-5 would many people really have another child for sixty odd quid a week..? Not many surely. 😂

I fully agree the best outcome for people able to work is for them to be in work, and that education / public services are all part of that. But the idea that children should go without basic needs being met, when it is fully outside their control isn’t palatable. The majority of those who will actually benefit from the scrap are working families https://endchildpoverty.org.uk/new-research-majority-of-families-impacted-by-the-two-child-limit-are-working/

Assuming 37.5 hrs, full time employment, you'd need to earn a minimum annual salary of ~£28,000 for it to be theoretically possible for the new cap to impact you (which would put you just above the median national average).

If something is inaccessible to anyone below the average salary, I think its fair to say its inaccessible to low earners.

As you note, even some people with salaries that are multiples higher are struggling with the cost of living, so I think it's fair to assume that not many who earn slightly above that £28k threshold were diverting every available £ into their pension.

I haven't seen (dont think its available) the actual data on the salaries of people who sacrificed more than £2k (about 11% of workers), but it was HMRC that said:

"the costs of relief through salary sacrifice relate disproportionately to pension contributions from those on higher incomes."

The baby boom wasn’t an unprecedented outlier. It was a rebound from the sharp interwar decline, though still well below pre-WWI levels.

The real anomaly is the sustained drop since the 1960s, with global birth rates now at their lowest in recorded history.

Worldwide population growth has continued mainly because rising life expectancy masked falling fertility, but that demographic reality will hit hard in the coming generations.

In the UK, we’ve already felt it in terms of demographics- relying heavily on immigration to offset low birth rates and an aging population. Even if ever-increasing immigration wasnt controversial, it isn't sustainable either (because the number of potential immigrants will also reduce sharply).

I agree we need to plan, but nobody is going to take the bull by the horns because the worst effects are in the medium-long term, and the dramatic solutions needed would be hugely politically unpopular in the short term.

I agree we need to plan, but nobody is going to take the bull by the horns because the worst effects are in the medium-long term, and the dramatic solutions needed would be hugely politically unpopular in the short term.

Do you think this government has the skills to do tackle this challenge?

I don't think it's a question of skill, more that whoever tackles it will probably be voted out.

I do think the current government is doing more to mitigate the issue than the previous one, but only in marginal ways.

The party I would worry most about is Reform, whose policies would hugely accelerate the crisis.

Oddly, on this issue alone, the best party is probably the SDP, who I dont really like (and who are extremely fringe).

How would Reform’s policies accelerate the problem? They’ve announced ‘pro-family’ policies to address the declining birth rate including tax and welfare changes.

Yes, I think you are

I’m surprised that any posters are willing to argue that the last budget was genuinely directed at child poverty. It was so obviously just a naked attempt to shore up Starmer’s position with the left of the party.

Last year Starmer removed the whip from seven Labour MPs who backed removing the cap. Months after that nothing was done about it in the first budget, although apparently it’s part of Starmer and Reeves’s urgent moral mission. 🙄

Neither Starmer nor Reeves would have done this if the pair of them weren’t - very unusually - close to being kicked out by the Labour party itself.

While simultaneously reducing taxes and boosting the economy, are they are wizards or liars? You just need look at Farages entire political career and you know the answer to that. That guy is a Trump level conman and only the very stupid fall for it, just like Trump.

I hadn’t really considered the SDP. I quite like the look of some of their policies, though it’s a hard no and suspicion on others.

I don’t like the risk aspect of Reform’s pension proposals - especially given they might be next in. I also think they’re a one-trick pony, like the Greens. Turkeys voting for Christmas because I believe they’ll bring in an insurance-based health system, and they’ll remove flexible working for starters. The racism aspect is best left for another thread…

Hyperbole isn't helpful. What policies have Reform announced that would further decrease our birth rate?

Significantly cutting legal immigration - e.g., removing the sticking plaster solution without having addressed the underlying problem.

That would put us on a similar trajectory to Japan.

I have significant concerns around the current government on this. It is madness, to me, that the Tories and - even moreso Reform - would go further.

But that's political short termism for you.