“So it will be a budget with real ambition. A budget to fix the foundations. A budget to deliver the change we promised. A budget to rebuild Britain.”
Reeves promised Labour will not increase national insurance, the basic, higher or additional rate of income tax, or VAT. The government will also cap corporation tax at its current level for the duration of this parliament.
Yet there remain concerns over Reeves’ plans for the economy, particularly for low-income people and benefits claimaints.
Ayla Ozmen, director of policy and campaigns at anti-poverty charity Z2K, said: “While the chancellor was at pains to stress that working people won’t face cuts, there were no such reassurances for seriously ill and disabled people reliant on incapacity benefits – only ominous references to ‘a welfare state that doesn’t always incentivise work.'”
The Conservative government had proposed a series of changes to the disability benefits system which would slash the welfare bill and push more people into work.
Ozmen added: “We fear that the increasing social security bill and the need for ‘tough choices’ will be blamed for cuts to incapacity benefits at next month’s budget.
“But we know the inadequacy of social security for people of working age is already pushing many disabled people into destitution and further away from the labour market, with worsening mental and physical health.
“The government must live up to its rhetoric and ensure that it does not repeat the ‘salami-slicing’ approach that it has criticised previous governments for taking on social security.”
Addressing the choice to restrict winter fuel payments to the poorest pensioners, Reeves added that not everyone in the country “will agree with every decision” but she will “not duck those decisions”.
Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented: “A smiling and triumphant Rachel Reeves’ attitude at conference is in stark contrast to the feelings of pensioners who she has taken the winter fuel payment away from.
“For 1.2m pensioners in absolute poverty and for 1.6m older people with disabilities, the winter will be a grim time without the support with energy bills they have relied on.”
Francis said the chancellor “doubled down on her gamble with older people’s lives to fill a budgetary black hole” and rebuffed Reeves’ claim that the triple lock on pensions is enough to replace the payments.
It comes after an expected vote on the winter fuel payment cuts at the Labour Party conference, brought forward by unions, has been delayed.
“We welcomed Sunday’s announcements by other ministers on the government’s plans for better quality housing, but they will take time to deliver,” Francis said. “Until then, ministers need to reverse the cuts to winter fuel payments and provide support for vulnerable households.”
There are 14 million people living in poverty in the UK, of whom 3.8 million are facing destitution and unable to afford essentials they need to survive.
John Bird, founder of the Big Issue, said: “Our chancellor today made a speech George Osborne would have been proud of. Deny as she may a return to austerity – which in a technical sense I’m sure is true – the chancellor’s talk of savings and hard choices felt like a continuation of the Tory policies the electorate rejected so firmly back in July.
“Rachel Reeves is courting industry and promising that growth in the private sector will trickle down to working people. We’ve heard that before, and it doesn’t work. If we’re going to stop being the food bank nation, we need to radically rethink our approach to tackling poverty, and start investing in people on the lowest incomes from day one.”
Big Issue’s Poverty Zero campaign is calling for statutory poverty reduction targets, to place a legal requirement on governments to reduce poverty.
Alfie Stirling, director and chief economist of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “Families who have been struggling to put food on the table and pay their energy bills are not sharing the Chancellor’s optimism today. They want to know when change begins for them.
“Her talk of tough decisions has created a fear of what is to come in the budget, and a dread that this winter will be as bad, if not worse, than the last. The chancellor promised an end to austerity, but didn’t signal how she would support families already struggling to make ends meet.”
Stirling added that if the government “fails to repair the foundations, like housing, welfare and public services”, it also risks “failing on its own terms to deliver a resilient economy”.
“For the economy to thrive we need to unlock the talent and potential of the millions of people currently trapped in poverty and insecurity,” Stirling said. “The budget next month must make tackling economic insecurity – across, incomes, housing and care, as well as work – a top priority of the government’s mission for growth.”
Helen Barnard, the director of policy at Trussell, agreed that the “social security system should ensure that everyone scan afford the essentials – but right now, it’s the most immediate and significant factor pushing people to food banks”.
Trussell is backing for a protected minimum floor in universal credit that people’s payments never fall below, as well as limits on debt deductions and extended support for universal credit.
Barnard also urged the government to “support disabled people facing significant barriers to work and a high risk of hunger and hardship”.
The Labour government is yet to confirm whether it will proceed with work capability assessment reforms proposed by the Conservatives, which could see hundreds of thousands of people miss out on additional support worth over £400 a year by 2028/2029.
“The UK government has a key opportunity this autumn to demonstrate its intention to deliver on Labour’s manifesto pledge to end the need for emergency food, and deliver a clear plan to tackle hunger and hardship in the UK,” Barnard said.
Rachel Reeves’ speech was interrupted by a protestor sounding alarm over UK arms exports to Israel. After the man was escorted out, the chancellor said “this is a changed Labour Party and not a party of protest”.
John Bird said he was “extremely worried to hear our chancellor say hers is a party that ‘represents working people, not a party of protest’,” adding: “In my experience, parties who leave no room for protest quickly fall victim to dogma and despotism.”
The speech also came as nurses rejected the government’s proposed 5.5% pay rise, while Reeves claimed to have “delivered a meaningful, real pay rise to millions of public sector workers”.
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