On Wednesday 3 March, Rushanara Ali MP spoke in the budget debate, following the Chancellor’s budget announcement.

Watch her full speech below.

Following the speech, Rushanara said:

“The Chancellor’s budget does not meet the scale of our economic challenges or promote the scale of growth that is needed to recover. The Chancellor has risked choking off the recovery by freezing the threshold for personal income tax allowance and continuing with plans for a council tax hike that will hit households across the country. He made no mention of the NHS, social care, schools, the police or local government, despite them doing so much to protect our country.

On youth unemployment, the Kickstart scheme has been a monumental failure and yet no plans have been outlined to reform it. Only 2000 young people have started their kickstart placements, meanwhile youth unemployment stands at close to 600,000. I welcome the extension of the £20 uplift in Universal credit, but this should be made permanent. With 60% of children in Bethnal Green and Bow growing up in poverty, families need certainty, not another cliff edge in September.

This pandemic was a wake-up call, demanding that we fix the structural inequalities in our society, tackle poverty, build decent homes, and provide secure work for all. The Chancellor’s budget does little to address these big challenges facing our country.”

Rushanara also spoke to BBC Radio 4 on the Budget. Watch her full interview below.