The Chancellor unveiled the budget on the 6th March 2024.
As the budget came in the same week as International Women’s Day, I wanted to raise the impact of the Tory budget on women.
It’s sadly no surprise to me that the Women’s Budget Group (WBG), which does fantastic work analysing the impact of policies on women, says the Chancellor’s tax give-aways benefit men over women. For example, single men will gain on average close to £500 more a year than lone mothers.
The WBG has also been clear that cutting taxes at the expense of investment in public services has a detrimental impact on women. It is women who rely on public services the most and make up the majority of its workforce, but public services now face real-terms cuts.
With the pay gap still at a stubborn 14.3%, these tax cuts disproportionately favour men and high-income households.
After 14 years of the Tories, our public services are on the verge of collapse due to chronic underinvestment, and we are in a recession.
My constituents in Brent want good schools, they want to be able to get a doctor and a dentist appointment, but the Tories have been destroying the very services that make my constituents’ lives better.
I want to see three specific priorities to help women.
- The first is increased funding for women’s refuges, including specialist refuges. This is because violence against women and girls is at epidemic levels, with one woman killed by a man on average every three days.
- I also want to see the Government adopt a policy I have long campaigned for – offer 10 days paid leave for victims of domestic violence in order to give survivors time to leave abusive partners safely and seek support. This crucial time would save lives.
- And I wanted to see renewed effort to end the gender and ethnicity pay gaps, after years of Conservative inaction. The Labour Party has committed to closing that gap if we are lucky enough to form the next government.