"There's bits and pieces of this and that but I don't see any coherent drive for growth, said an underwhelmed Labour stalwart, David Taylor-Gooby, about Rachel Reeves's budget. They need more backbone. They need to have a sense of moral purpose. They need to sort the economy out. Taylor-Gooby, 80 and a former Labour councillor, is originally from Watford but has lived in Peterlee, County Durham, for more than 40 years."
"Peterlee is a town patently disillusioned with Labour. It is in a constituency, Easington, which was once one of Labour's safest seats, a place it could never lose. Incredibly, if there were a general election today Reform would have a 99% chance of unseating the current MP, Grahame Morris, according to the pollsters Electoral Calculus. No one the Guardian spoke to on a bitterly cold grey Wednesday thought the budget had done anything to change Labour's fortunes."
"It goes against what they promised at the very beginning, doesn't it? They said no tax rises. Although I do get that the country is in a very bad position. Smith is happy the two-child benefit limit is being lifted but is not convinced about the bigger picture and is clearly no fan of Keir Starmer. I've voted Labour all my life, but it's not the Labour party any more, not the Labour party I've grown up with anyway."
Peterlee residents view the budget as lacking a coherent growth strategy and moral purpose, leaving long-term Labour supporters demoralised and local branches struggling to recruit volunteers. Easington, once a safe Labour seat, shows deep disillusionment, with Electoral Calculus assigning Reform a 99% chance of unseating the sitting MP if an election were held today. Many voters perceive the package as tax rises contrary to earlier promises, while some welcome the lifting of the two-child benefit limit but remain unconvinced about the overall direction. Lifelong Labour voters describe the party as having shifted away from working-class values.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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