‘I voted Labour but regret it after Rachel Reeves’ broken promises’

Locals at a London pub have said they “never would’ve voted for Labour” if they knew about the shock tax hikes announced in today’s Budget.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her first Budget this afternoon, which included a rise in Universal Credit, state pensions and carer’s allowance – as well as an eye-watering £40bn in additional taxes to “rebuild Britain”.

There will also be an increase to National Insurance contributions by employers, capital gains tax, and VAT for private schools, among other announcements.

Down at Chancellors pub in Hammersmith, west London, some locals said that the government had “broken promises” made to Brits in their election campaign with these new announcements.

Jack McCluskey, the operations manager at the pub, joked that the beer duty will “inevitably lead to regulars saying they want a penny back”.

He told the Express: “It’s a small amount and hard to see first-hand cause it doesn’t come straight away. It’s gonna affect us just numbers-wise but it’s also quite a good thing.

“The pub has been in the family for 40 years, we do football days but that’s obviously only certain days in a year. It’s a backstreet pub, not super close to the Apollo so we’re really lucky with our product.

“Crisp, our pizza restaurant, is run in-house. We’re quite lucky, we’ve got a high-quality product that’s cheaper than others in the area, so we’re booked into December.

“Other local pubs, and there are loads in the area, with no food offering will struggle. If this pub didn’t have a food offering we’d struggle to be here.

“I didn’t vote. I’m not involved too much, so like they say ‘you can’t complain if you don’t get involved.’”

On a more serious note however, Jacob White, a chef, said that he mainly struggles with VAT being added to private school fees, saying it “perpetuates the gap between people who can and can’t afford private education”.

“I went to a private school and knew people scraping everything together to afford that education – grandparents, uncles, aunts all chipping in. That’s being made more difficult and could mean the only people who can afford it are the elite.”

He added that he feels the UK spends “crazy money” on defence, so is “not a fan” of a funding increase but agrees with continuing to send money to Ukraine.

Bill Sandwich, an account manager, said that while there are “obvious benefits” to the Budget but there are also “lots of broken promises and surprises”.

“One of the main promises being broken is them saying they wouldn’t raise income tax,” he said. “They also said they wouldn’t tax working people.

“National insurance will affect small businesses, it’s quite a big hike. I also think it’s a shame there’s been a cut in the draft beer tax but no cut in spirit tax – Scotland’s biggest export wasn’t looked at.

“The carer threshold increase is amazing, that’s excellent news. I don’t know how could anyone think that’s bad.

“Inheritance tax will affect me quite a lot, but it’s not a surprise they’re doing that. I’m a working person, like Starmer says he wants to help, but I’ll still be massively affected by that.

“I definitely wouldn’t have voted for Labour if I knew this was gonna happen.”

But not all disagree with the Budget. Ryan Pearson, a marketing lead, said that he approves of “the direction Labour is going in”, saying that it “makes sense” to him.

He added: “As someone with more expendable income than I need, I want it to go to the state to benefit people. If you have it, it’s not that bad if it goes back into the state for things that need attention.

“It makes sense in idea to increase taxes but I’d like to know what they’re gonna do with it – to see them take that ideology and apply it. I voted for Labour but was never really confident in that vote, so I feel no worse.”