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Rachel Reeves has done her best with a dire inheritance

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Thursday 31 October 2024 17:00 GMT

For the chancellor, in the words of another famous female politician , ‘there was no alternative’ (Getty)

I am bewildered by the reaction to the Budget from much of the country (“Papers react to Labour’s Budget ‘gamble’”, Thursday 31 October).

People seem taken aback by the measures proposed by Rachel Reeves. But, in the words of another famous female politician, “there was no alternative”.

After 14 years of criminal neglect and economic starvation, the country wanted public services to be fixed. This was going to cost money. Who knew?

And for those who cry, “But before the election, they said they wouldn’t increase taxes…”, do you really think that either party could have told the truth about the state of public finances and still have been elected?

We all knew that taxes would have to rise, whatever the colour of the party in power. The state of public finances is obvious to see.

Rachel Reeves has made the best of a dire situation. Her chief task now is to make sure the money is spent wisely, so that we notice the difference in five years’ time.

John Stanton

London

Do ‘working people’ know what may now hit them?

This Budget was a political choice by Labour to prioritise our ailing and beleaguered public services – and many people will commend that choice (“To the less well off, Reeves giveth… to the rich, she surely taketh away”, Thursday 31 October).

This was not an ameliorative budget, one that attempted to please everyone and therefore, as a consequence, pleased no one. It was a gamble.

As such, those much-lauded “working people” might yet face collateral damage when businesses pass on some of their economic pain.

Judith A. Daniels

Norfolk

We can’t afford to ignore AI

Labour’s first Budget in 14 years had one glaring hole: artificial intelligence (“UK has more to gain from generative AI than any other G7 nation, report finds”, Monday 21 October).

While it may seem the reserve of those who work in tech, AI could help revolutionise many of the challenges outlined in Rachel Reeves’ Budget, from skills to housebuilding, fraud and shoplifting, to name a few. It was, however, woefully overlooked.

It’s clear that while the government is making all the right noises when it comes to AI, it is not actually sure how best to use it.

Keir Starmer isn’t going to achieve “tech bro” status, as Rishi Sunak called it in PMQs, by only looking to the government for insights on AI. Public-private partnerships are key to harnessing its power.

Grace James

London

Here comes the flood

Last week, my brother returned from holidaying in Spain, including Valencia, where he was one of many tourists happily wandering around the city. He described it as a very lovely place.

This week, news images from that province are ones of destruction and death, after an entire year’s worth of rain fell in hours (“More than 90 dead after torrential rain brings flash flooding to Spain”, Wednesday 30 October). Having been declared a “disaster zone”, it seems that more severe weather is still to come.

Is there anyone who seriously doubts that climate change isn’t real?

Dennis Fitzgerald

Melbourne

Better ‘Red’ than dead

Thank you, Eleanor Mills, for an excellent article about the trailblazing Labour MP Ellen Wilkinson (“Why it is wrong to sneer at Rachel Reeves’ heroine ‘Red Ellen’”, Thursday 31 October). I, too, am a big fan, even though I am clearly not a woman, nor am I a socialist or a communist.

Another of Wilkinson’s attributes worth mentioning is her literary ability: she wrote a fine novel set in the Houses of Parliament, called The Division Bell Mystery. I was delighted to see a few years ago that it has been republished.