Peter Gibson: The Budget that said goodbye to growth

Rachel Reeves’ second budget was not delivered for growth, but very much for her backbenchers. Those pesky troublesome backbenchers who defied the whips over the removal of the two child benefit cap got their way.

Just as the government u-turned on the winter fuel allowance for pensioners, it is clear there is no plan, despite having 14 years to create such a plan, and so it is clear that this government has no idea how to grow an economy. It really is no wonder when barely a single member of it has run a business, run a risk or employed a single person.

With inflation, taxes, unemployment, spending, borrowing and debt interest all up, this really was a budget that didn’t reward those doing the right thing.

If you own a business, employ anyone, save, invest or simply want to put money into your pension you were punished.

Indeed, even if you want to turn the heating on you were punished with the energy price cap due to increase further due to the failure of the government to tackle our energy market anomalies.

Rachel told us last year there was a black hole, yet she made the problem worse – and she’s done exactly the same again, increasing spending on welfare for fear of the backlash from those pesky backbenchers.

More free money for those dependent on welfare is, of course, going to be welcomed by those in receipt of it tomorrow, but it is every one of us who will pay the price with non-existent growth in the years ahead. We will all be paying more and getting even less out.

The centuries-old right to a trial by jury, to be judged by our peers in the face of a criminal accusation, is one of the pillars of our constitution. Tackling the backlog in our criminal justice system is important, and we all know that justice delayed is justice denied, but you don’t protect the principle of justice by removing access to it. It really is quite bizarre to see this being dismantled by a party led by a man who is the embodiment of a left wing lawyer.

At a local level, the news of £16m being invested at Central Park to develop science technology engineering and maths is very welcome, investment in education training and skills , is always a good thing. It helps tackle the waste of talent that is the shameful statistic of almost 1,000,000 young people not in employment education or training.

What still requires further clarification is whether this is new money or whether this is merely an allocation of previously announced spending in Darlington, which was itself already rebadged money because I, when MP for the town, fought for it and won it under the “long term plan for towns”. If it is simply recycled announcements to give lines for my successor Lola McEvoy to lavish in the local media, then we need no more evidence that they simply have no plan.

With my days in Parliament in the rear view mirror, the shocking shambles of a Government unravelling just months into its terms of office brings me no joy, just disappointment, and dismay at the way the people of Darlington and the North East are being let down by Labour. Again.

• Peter Gibson was the Conservative MP for Darlington from 2019 to 2024