at six, the chancellor unveils his first budget with big changes to childcare, pensions and benefits. jeremy hunt says the economy is on the right track and the plan is working but labour said the uk was on a path of managed decline. today we build for the future. with inflation down, debt falling and growth up, the declinists are wrong and the optimists are right. like millions across our country this budget leaves us stuck in the waiting room with only a sticking plaster to hand, a country set on a path of managed decline, falling behind our competitors, the sick man of europe once again. the government s independent forecaster warned of the sharpest fall in living standards
this is bbc news. welcome if you re watching here in the uk or around the globe. i m reeta chakrabarti. our top stories. the uk chancellor sets out his spring budget in parliament. extra help for childcare and scrapping the limit on tax free pension savings are part of the government s plans. our top stories. today, we build for the future. with inflation down, debt falling and growth up, the declinists are wrong and the optimists are right. like millions across our country, this budget leaves us stuck in the waiting room with only a sticking plaster to hand. a country set on a path of managed decline, falling behind our competitors, the sick man of europe once again.
government, our economy needed major surgery. but, like millions across our country, this budget leaves us stuck in the waiting room with only a sticking plaster to hand. a country set on a path of managed decline, falling behind our competitors, the sick man of europe once again. this was a day for ambition, for bringing us together with purpose and intent, for unlocking the pride that is in every community, matching their belief in the possibilities of the future. but, madam deputy speaker, after today, we know the tory cupboard is as bare as the salad isle in our supermarket. the lettuces may be out, but the turnips are in. a hopelessly divided party, caught between a rock of the client and a hard place of their own economic
nurses, to tackle the capacity crisis, a policy he publicly publicly praised just 15 days before he became chancellor. yet it never came. and madam deputy speaker, if there was ever a symbol of the poverty of ambition, that is it. because the reality is, the country getting sicker is a country getting poorer. and a country getting poorer is a country getting sicker. health and wealth must go together. britain can t afford to be the sick man of europe, britain can t afford the tories. and there is another way, on these benches we understand, institutions must be respected. constraints accepted. the fiscal rule should be sound and followed rigorously, that every pound is precious and must not be wasted. but they want to shout about their record, let them shout, wages lower, taxes higher. borrowing higher. debt
because they can t. and so our course is set. managed decline, britain going backwards the sick man of europe once again. that is the britain they have created and they should look it in the eye. today s figures on growth put their failures up figures on growth put their failures up in light. after 13 years of tory sticking plaster politics, 13 years of no growth for the many, 13 years of no growth for the many, 13 years of being asked to pay, working people are entitled to ask, am i think better off than i was before? and after 13 years, with no excuses left, nobody left the blame, no ambition or answer, the resounding ange is no, and they know it xxxxanceis ange is no, and they know it xxxxance is no, and they know it. and that is the end of keir starmer, the labour leader s response to the