Has Rachel Reeves made the right calls in this budget? Our panel responds | Polly Toynbee and others

"This budget will be remembered for finally abolishing the monstrous two-child benefit cap. That's what Labour budgets do, boosting the low-paid, taking from the well-off. Children always come first, as 450,000 will be released from poverty, more than in any budget before. The chancellor reeled off Labour's too often ignored child-first priorities: universal nurseries from nine months, breakfast clubs, more free school meals, school libraries, a youth guarantee."

"After four months of tortured U-turns, dithering and leaking that spooked markets and paralysed spending, here is a far better budget than doomster predictions. But there should have been a political rolling out of the red carpet in advance to announce a redder budget than expected. Those with least got most: 900 more per year for 2.4 million people on the minimum wage. Prescriptions and fuel duty are frozen, frozen rail fares will save commuters around 300 a year."

"Energy bills are eased by taking the green levies back to the Treasury. It was high time to restore a little justice by taxing properties worth more than 2m. But, yes, the freezing of income tax thresholds amounts to the income tax rise that was pledged against. May all other future chancellors learn from Rachel Reeves's original great sin, binding herself in iron fiscal chains. Never again."

Abolishing the two‑child benefit cap frees 450,000 children from poverty and prioritises children. Universal nurseries from nine months, breakfast clubs, more free school meals, school libraries and a youth guarantee form core child‑first measures, with Best Start signalling a revival of Sure Start. The budget follows months of market‑spooking U‑turns and leaks but delivers higher pay for the lowest earners, about £900 extra annually for 2.4 million minimum‑wage workers. Prescriptions, fuel duty and rail fares are frozen. Energy bills are eased by moving green levies to the Treasury and taxing properties over £2m, while freezing income tax thresholds functions as an effective tax rise. Public scepticism about benefit reforms persists despite little impact on birth rates.

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