Rachel Reeves promised a cost-of-living budget, and on some measures, she delivered.
The chancellor used her budget speech this week to announce an end to the two-child limit on benefits, take levies off energy bills, freeze NHS prescription charges and rail fares in England, and raise the minimum wage. All of this will make some difference, especially for women, who disproportionately contend with soaring living costs – juggling unpaid care, low wages and rising household bills.
But in other areas, the Labour government did not go far enough to reduce other hardships that are felt particularly acutely by women. Reeves failed to introduce measures that could have alleviated homelessness, addressed some of the inequalities in the tax system, and led to a redistribution of the UK’s wealth.
