JAMES FRITH: Budget will begin to address challenges we face in Bury

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ plan is the Labour government’s most significant step forward since the overwhelming vote for change at July’s general election.

This budget will fix the foundations of our economy, deliver on the promise of change, and address the crisis in our broken NHS with real investment to cut waiting lists.

It protects working people from higher taxes in their payslips and invests in Britain’s future, with funding for school rebuilding, hospitals, and crumbling roads.

Pensioners will see the pension triple lock deliver more than £1,000 in the coming years.

This budget will begin to address the deep challenges we face here in Bury and across Britain.

Inequality in Bury North is rife. Almost half (43 per cent) of children in our constituency are living in absolute poverty, densely populated in three of our nine wards.

The difference in life expectancy between our poorest and better-off areas is a shocking seven years for men and five for women. A damming indictment of the last 14 years.

Our area also suffers some of the longest NHS hospital wait times for elective surgeries.

To help address this, the Chancellor pledged billions of pounds in new health funding for millions of extra appointments, capital improvements including vital scanning equipment, and urgent dental care, alongside the recruitment of 1,000 newly qualified GPs.

Labour is delivering the reforms the NHS desperately needs.

Bury North MP James Frith (Image: James Frith)

The Conservatives’ legacy is clear- they left a £22bn hole in our finances, skyrocketing mortgages and rents, and crumbling public services.

Labour is cracking down on fraud they presided over, tax avoidance, and waste, with a firm commitment to end Tory austerity and hold them accountable for failed promises and dodgy Covid contracts.

Labour has honoured its manifesto promises, with no increases to National Insurance, income tax, or VAT, and a pay rise for workers on the minimum wage.

This budget is a real step forward for Bury and for Britain, setting us on a path toward a brighter future.

It hasn’t ducked the difficult decisions but chooses investment instead of continued decline and rejects austerity.

We’ve kept our word to working people. This is the start of things getting better.

There is an enormous amount still to do but we’re on our way.

This was a budget for the NHS, by the party of the NHS, for all users of the NHS.

I am proud of the work underway and the change you can trust.