logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2024
1 h

What did Rachel Reeves’ Budget miss?

Persephonica
About this episode

The dust has settled on Rachel Reeves’ budget, and despite a strong performance from the Chancellor, George Osborne and Ed Balls have noticed a few glaring omissions. Child poverty? Didn’t really rate a mention. How about some of the New Labour classics like getting people back to work? Pensioners? Nope. So how did this crucial economic pitch to the nation stack up? Ed and George consider how the fallout might impact Labour all the way to the next election.


Meanwhile, the polls are telling us the historic US election is set to be a squeaker, with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in a dead heat. The betting platforms and markets are telling a different story, however. George has the latest on who the world’s major financiers are expecting to be in the White House come January … 


And speaking of going to the polls, Japan’s snap election just backfired – did anyone in the UK notice? Ed and George question if we should be paying more attention to this major world economy.


Remember, you can catch up on our Budget Hot Take here: tr.ee/pc-live


Become a member of POLITICAL CURRENCY GOLD 🏅 to support the podcast, enjoy ad-free listening to all our episodes and receive early access to EMQs.


Subscribe now: patreon.com/politicalcurrency or on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/politicalcurrency


Production support: Caillin McDaid

Technical Producer: Oliver Geraghty

Producers: Miriam Hall and Danny Garlick

Executive Producers: Ellie Clifford and Dino Sofos


Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network. 

Subscribe now on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Jul 7
EMQs: Our Keir Year, modern Machiavellis and fairness in politics
What is a fair way to govern? In response to a long time listener who feels a victim of his own success – disproportionately hit by taxes and ineligible for certain benefits – Ed Balls explains three different philosophical concepts of ‘fairness’. George Osborne meanwhile dismiss ... Show More
37m 57s
Jul 3
Week from Hell for Reeves and Starmer
Some incredible scenes in PMQs this week - in which Chancellor Rachel Reeves was openly crying - has Ed Balls and George Osborne considering just how bad things have got for the Labour government. Mere days after a dramatic climbdown over welfare reform, when the watered-down bil ... Show More
56m 6s
Jun 30
EMQs: Can the G20 still keep the peace?
Is the G20 still a force for peace and diplomacy, or just a stage for political performance? Ed Balls and George Osborne kick off this week’s EMQs with a question about nuclear non-proliferation and whether South Africa should push it up the agenda this year.The pair then turns t ... Show More
43 m
Recommended Episodes
Jun 13
Reeves sets Labour’s course – but what will it deliver?
Labour’s long-awaited spending review dropped this week. Rachel Reeves unveiled funding settlements for government departments – and a newly upbeat tone after the gloomy promise of hard times in her previous Commons set pieces. The NHS and defence were prioritised but other depar ... Show More
34m 49s
Jun 6
Facing down a fiscal firestorm
UK chancellor Rachel Reeves has had an action-packed week. She made a U-turn on winter fuel payments, announced plans to spend billions of pounds on new transport schemes and, following the prime minister’s latest announcement, she now has to find yet more money to fund a rise in ... Show More
28m 51s
Oct 2024
332. Rachel Reeves' Budget: How does it affect you?
Is Labour's first budget a success or failure for the new government? How does it compare to previous budgets? Did Rachel Reeves alter her proposals from pre-election? Rory and Alastair come together to answer all your budget related questions in today's emergency budget episode. ... Show More
45m 50s
Jul 2024
Will Labour raise taxes?
Rachel Reeves' first statement as the new Chancellor has kicked off a huge political row. She accused her predecessor Jeremy Hunt of lying about the 'true state' of the UK's finances - and he hit back calling her ‘shameless’. So was there actually a ‘cover up’ by the previous gov ... Show More
29m 22s
Jul 4
A year of Keir
This week marks a year of Keir Starmer’s government. But if Labour was expecting to celebrate the anniversary – it didn't pan out that way. Despite claiming a narrow victory with the contentious welfare bill, the government appeared to have one of its roughest weeks on record. Ho ... Show More
37m 29s
Nov 2024
What to make of the Labour government's first budget?
The Autumn Budget was the most significant since George Osborne implemented austerity in 2010. Rachel Reeves announced one hundred billion pounds for infrastructure, forty billion in tax rises and a whole host of policy changes, which she hopes will deliver Labour’s mission of na ... Show More
31m 48s
Jul 2024
Labour confronts £20bn black hole
The chancellor Rachel Reeves is about to confront the British public with the size of the black hole in the country’s finances. A funding shortfall of about £20bn is likely to lead to tax rises at the Budget later this year. So — how to fix the problem? The FT’s political editor ... Show More
34m 40s
May 30
Who’s afraid of Nigel Farage?
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Reform party leader Nigel Farage clashed on economic issues this week. Farage said his party was the champion of the working class, while Starmer warned Farage’s proposed spending rises amounted to “fantasy promises”. Host George Parker is joined b ... Show More
35m 19s
Nov 2024
I like big budgets and I cannot lie
Go here to get tickets for Oh God, What Now? live at the Comedy Store on Tue 10 Dec – now with special guest John Crace of The Guardian. Big tax rises, big ambition. Labour’s first budget since regaining power, from Britain’s first-ever female chancellor, is rocking the nation. B ... Show More
1h 4m
Oct 2024
New chancellor, new rules
Rachel Reeves has rewritten her fiscal rules on the eve of her seismic first Budget next week. She says her new borrowing rule will help get Britain building, but how will it go down with voters – and the markets? Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer is in Samoa, where a debate about repa ... Show More
37m 13s