Healey's 'breathing space' budget offers welcome but inadequate short-term relief and must be followed by bolder, structural action
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/pollytoynbee,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/rohan-sathyamoorthy,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/johnmcdonnell,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/hettie-o-brien. "Will John Healey’s ‘breathing space’ budget deliver what Britain needs? Our panel responds | Polly Toynbee, Hettie O'Brien, Rohan Sathyamoorthy and John McDonnell | The Guardian." October 28, 2026. www.theguardian.com
The Gist
The panel agrees the budget gives people some welcome help with bills but is too timid and small to fix Britain's deeper problems. It went easy on banks, ignored young people and struggling renters, and offered no clear big-picture vision. Whether it was worthwhile depends on whether the government uses the breathing room to deliver something bolder soon.
Conclusion
John Healey's 'breathing space' budget does not by itself deliver what Britain needs: it provides modest, welcome relief but is too small-scale and cautious, so its value depends on the government using the time it buys to deliver a bolder plan on living standards, public services, and fairness.
Premises
- The budget contains genuine but small, short-term relief measures, such as energy bill support, abolished standing charges, and apprenticeship and first-time-buyer measures, that help ease the cost of living.
- The measures targeting powerful interests were diluted: the bank surcharge was set at a temporary 3% (or 6%, depending on the baseline), well below the pre-crisis 8%, and bank and gambling shares rose on the news, suggesting the burden on them was lighter than markets expected.
- Significant problems were left unaddressed: no help for low-income renters, no funding plan for public services facing real-terms cuts, no action on student loans or intergenerational fairness, and no wealth redistribution to boost demand.
- Small fixes do not amount to a political philosophy or a programme capable of persuading voters to accept hard trade-offs, and failing to change the economy risks disillusionment and the rise of the populist right.
- The budget's value therefore depends on whether the time it buys is used for a bolder agenda, such as the 10-year plan, the spending review, and capital investment in housing, insulation, and energy.
Assumptions
- Voter goodwill toward the new government is finite and will turn to disillusionment if concrete structural improvements do not follow.
- Market reaction (share price rises) is a reliable indicator that taxes on banks and gamblers were set too low.
- The government's stated ambition (turning back neoliberalism, 'growth in every postcode') is the right standard against which to judge the budget.
- Structural, redistributive, and investment-led measures are more effective than small fixes at addressing the underlying economic malaise.
- Disappointment with centre-left governments feeds far-right or populist parties, as in Germany, France, and Italy.