Budgeting for Broken Public Services
PAUL McLAUGHLIN analyses how the budget will affect the people of Hastings and tries to garner local political reaction
Local Labour MP Helena Dollimore has welcomed the Chancellor’s plans to inject billions of pounds to “rebuild broken public services and fix the foundations of our country” after Rachel Reeves delivered her long-awaited Budget last Wednesday (30 October) amid the usual media frenzy and hyperbole.
On one level, the Budget is all about numbers. It can be a dry, tedious affair. An accounting process setting out how much the government takes in taxation, set against how much it spends on public services. The Budget is also a political battle. It is the defining opportunity for the governing party to set the agenda for the year and years ahead. In this respect words are important, and a lot of energy is spent coming up with new ways of describing old concepts. Last week, for example, Labour did not talk about government spending, which has bad connotations, but spoke about making investments in the country’s future.
In regard to ‘spending’, the Chancellor announced a number of key investments which will benefit the people of Hastings. One of the most important was the 6.7% increase in the national minimum wage. Full-time workers will now receive £12.21 per hour, whilst those aged between 18 and 20-years old will get £10 per hour.
Local drivers will benefit from extending the freeze in the fuel duty levy for a year and continuing with the last government’s 5p cut in the fuel duty rate. Although the bus fare cap has been renewed, the current £2 fare has been increased to £3. This will hit many of the poorest in the town who depend on this form of public transport.
Education was one of the big winners in this year’s Budget. The Department for Education will receive £6.7bn of capital investment, a 19% real-terms increase. This includes £1.4bn to rebuild more than 500 schools in the greatest need. In addition, the schools budget will increase by £2.3bn to support the hiring of teachers, free breakfast clubs and mental health support for children. There will be £2.1bn for school maintenance, a £300m increase. There will also be a £1bn increase in funding for special educational needs and another £300m for higher education.
The NHS will see a massive £22.6bn increase in the day-to-day health budget as part of the government initiative to help cut waiting times. This includes a £3.1bn increase in the capital budget, of which £1bn is for repairs and upgrades, and £1.5bn is for new beds in hospitals and testing capacity.
The importance the government attaches to housing was reflected in £5bn of investment in 2025-26, including increasing the supply of affordable housing. The Chancellor also announced plans to reduce Right-to-Buy discounts and to allow local councils to retain and invest income from council house sales. As part of its determination to accelerate housebuilding, the Chancellor unveiled details to hire hundreds of new local authority planning officers.
There will be £1.3bn of additional grant funding for local government, including £600m for social care, something which East Sussex CC has been calling for in recent weeks. However, the devil will be in the detail, which will be revealed in next month’s local government finance settlement.
In an exclusive interview for HIP, Helena Dollimore MP said the Budget “signalled the start of the change the country voted resoundingly for in the summer. this new economic approach will see extra investment in schools, the NHS and working people and ensure those with the broadest shoulders contribute the most.”
Whilst Labour was keen to tell voters that they had kept to manifesto promises not to increase taxes on working people, the party could not disguise that there were tax increases in employers’ National Insurance contributions, the impact of which is yet to be fully understood both at a national and local level. There will also be sharp rises in capital gains and inheritance tax and a hike in stamp duty on second homes of which there are many in Hastings.
HIP Contacted other local political parties including the Greens, the Hastings Independent Group and the Conservatives but none responded to our requests for comments.
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