Britain has had three female Prime Ministers and Queen Elizabeth II was our longest reigning monarch, but until Rachel Reeves became chancellor (the UK’s top politician in charge of all our taxes and spending), there had never been a woman in the role. This meant that when Reeves moved into her new office, her personal bathroom had its own urinal. But perhaps more importantly for all of us, it means men have overseen the budget, deciding how much we are taxed and how public funding is spent, for nearly 1,000 years.
And while the wait for a woman to deliver the budget has been a long one, the budget itself has been described by Sky’s Political Editor Beth Rigby as the ‘biggest she’s ever covered’– that’s mainly due to the huge increase in tax, with over £40bn of tax rises. The most ever in a single budget.
Labour says that this is what’s required to improve our NHS and schools and that the choices they have made today will lead to a stronger economy in the future. What’s more, most of the tax rises will fall on the widest shoulders: those of the wealthy.
Delivering her speech today, the chancellor said she would deliver “a decade of national renewal” and promised no return to austerity. Her description of the current state of the country was bleak: “NHS waiting lists at record levels, children in portacabins as school roofs crumble, trains that do not arrive, rivers filled with polluted waste, prisons overflowing with crimes which are not investigated and criminals who are not punished.” And that is why she needed to announce a raft of new tax rises, to enable her to “restore stability to our public finances, to protect working people, to fix our NHS and to rebuild Britain.”
Most of the money will come from business, with employers paying more to take people on, but the OBR (the independent government organisation that checks the figures) thinks 60% of those rises could be paid for in smaller tax rises in future, or higher costs in the shops. However, likely most of the tax rises will fall on the widest shoulders: those of the wealthy.
Other smaller tax rises announced in the 2024 Autumn Budget that could impact people’s spending include a new tax on vapes — £2.20 per 10ml of liquid — and the same increase on a pack of 100 cigarettes to make sure the incentive is still there to switch. Going on holiday will also cost a bit more, with £2 extra tax on short haul flights in economy to places like Spain or Italy and £12 extra to long haul destinations like the US. Though spare a thought for those flying by private jet who will face a giant 50% tax increase, about £450 on average per passenger increase – for each way.
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While the budget was far-reaching, the question remains whether having a female chancellor will specifically benefit women. While representation matters and the package did deliver on some key changes which will directly impact women (more to come on those), on some of the biggest issues for women it fell short. Despite Harriet Harman describing the Chancellor as “not just the first female chancellor; she’s the first feminist chancellor”, there was a lack of detail around how to balance having a family and work, action on the gender pay gap and how to have a stable rented home where you can save to buy for the future. Underneath the billions, the percentages, the money in and costs out, Labour still needs to set out how its future will be a better one for young women in the UK.
More money for the lowest paid
So how much of a difference has it made to have a woman at the top making decisions? First up, the National Living Wage is going up significantly, from £11.44 an hour to £12.21 in April next year. And for young people between 16-20 years old, Reeves has announced the largest rise on record, from £8.60 to £10 an hour in April 2025. With more women than men in low paid work, this will help women who are struggling the most with the cost of living.
There’s also a big change to Carer’s Allowance — and as women are more likely than men to become carers and to provide more hours of unpaid care — this will allow carers to earn £10,000 while also getting the allowance, helping people take on part time work alongside looking after kids or elderly relatives.
But for most working women, the biggest news this week may have been that the gender pay gap has risen for the first time since 2013. The Fawcett Society described this as a threat to economic growth, saying the budget can’t achieve its aims with, “half our team on the bench.” Although this was mentioned by Reeves her in speech, ideas to reduce this, outside of the general economic measures announced, were not.
Where’s the money going?
Reeves also made the decision to give more money to the NHS — used by everyone, but staffed mainly by women who make up nearly three quarters of NHS healthcare workers. The investment, an additional £22.6 billion of resource spending, is a huge sum and shows where Reeves and Labour are prioritising their cash.
The money will help to fund thousands more operations and appointments each week and reduce waiting lists in the next few years. However, the government has said we should still expect a difficult winter, with Health Minister Wes Streeting saying there could still be people treated on trolleys in hospital corridors.
When it comes to childcare, Labour has assigned an additional £1.8 billion for government-funded childcare (taking the total to over £8 billion in 2025-26), alongside some more money for breakfast clubs. Rachel Carrell founder of Koru Kids wasn’t impressed with these changes, saying that minimum wage increases would only risk increasing the costs of childcare further.
While the Government estimate these measures will help an additional 60,000 parents back to work by 2028, it seems too small to help women who want to have to kids be able to afford to do so and reverse this week’s news that fertility rates in the UK have hit their lowest ever.
