Chancellor's constituents outline Budget wish list

The Budget on 30 October will prove to be a landmark event, not only because it is Labour's first in 14 years, but it will also be delivered by the country's first ever female chancellor, Leeds West and Pudsey MP Rachel Reeves.

Political analysts and experts have, of course, been doing the rounds speculating about the "difficult decisions" Reeves faces as she deals with what she claims is a "£22bn black hole" left in the public finances by the previous government.

Whatever the chancellor announces at the dispatch box in just a few days time, it will have implications for people living across the country.

But as she makes her final preparations for her big Budget speech, the BBC has been speaking to her constituents in the historic West Yorkshire market town of Pudsey to find out what they think should be her priorities.

Sean McKenna is a Falklands veteran who retired last year and now runs a stall on Pudsey and Shipley markets three days a week, selling bedding to top up his pension.

He said: "Managing to live on my forces pension and old age pension is virtually impossible."

Mr McKenna said he would like to see Reeves "increase the pension" for people like him.

"How would she manage to live on £830 a month when we're supposed to live on that with no fuel allowance?" he asked.

Mr McKenna added that he had only been retired a year, but "when you sit and look at your bank balance drifting down, you start worrying about what's ahead for the next six months when it's going to be cold".

Opposite Mr McKenna's pitch is the stall run by Tracey Nelson, who has been a market trader for years, selling clothes in Pudsey and at Shipley market.

Ms Nelson said since Labour came to power all people were talking about in the marketplace were the proposals to limit who could claim the winter fuel allowance to those on pension credit and other means-tested benefits.

While she agreed that not everyone needed the allowance, she was worried about those who "just miss out".

But she said she also had a bigger concern.

She said she bought her stock from warehouses in Manchester and then brought them over the Pennines to sell.

She explained: "Those warehouses pay import tax when they bring the clothes into the UK and it means the price of all their stuff goes up.

"So for us to buy, it's gone up for us and then from us to the customer we have to put it up.

"Whereas people can just go on any online sites and it only takes seven to 10 days for whatever you order to come to your door and nobody's getting taxed on it."

Ms Nelson said she wanted the government to step in and take action because "businesses are losing out".

Down the high street from the market in Pudsey is Frank Eshelby Butchers, a family-run business which has been serving people in the town since 1972.

Taking time out from serving a steady stream of customers, Matt Eshelby said he thought people wanted to feel a little "better off" after a "tricky couple of years with Covid and the cost of living crisis".

Mr Eshelby said: "There have been periods where unemployment's been a massive issue. I don't think that's an issue nowadays people are back in work, but they just don't have a right lot left at the end of it."

He added that people had heard Labour's manifesto during the election campaign earlier this year and that it was now "time to deliver".

Mary Weir, 75 , shopping in Pudsey, said the biggest Budget issue for her was ensuring Reeves kept "a decent rate of interest on the pension".

Ms Weir said she accepted she was "lucky" as she had a second pension and was not just relying on a state pension.

However, like many others she said she had concerns around those who were a similar age to her and missing out on winter fuel payments.

She said: "There are so many people who are going to be struggling and they won't know where to go for help."

She said she believed there needed to be "a short-term plan" for those who were missing out on the payment.

Further down the high street, Charlie, 13, strolling round Pudsey with his dad, said he would really like the chancellor to invest in more things for young people to do in the town.

He said he believed there was currently a tension between teenagers and the town's older people.

Charlie said that after school, "people my age are always lounging about on their electric scooters and their e-bikes really scaring people".

"I feel like the chancellor's Budget could really help the older population of Pudsey", he said.

Charlie added that he would like to see Reeves spending money on "more gyms for younger people" so they had something to do instead of "roaming about and wreaking havoc".

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