00:00A budget for the working people.
00:02That was what the Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Healey's opening line was for his first ever budget,
00:07before announcing a raft of policies across industry, utilities and day-to-day spending.
00:12As the first budget is set under the King of the North, is it still one fit for Kent?
00:17Has or has our Garden of England been left out of Britain's plans?
00:20Our local democracy reporter Megan Shaw joins us live from outside Westminster.
00:25Meg, you've been outside College Green all day following these plans as they roll in.
00:30What were the key takeaways here?
00:34Good evening, Chloe.
00:35As you said, yes, I've been on College Green all day hearing the updates as they roll in.
00:41It's been a very mild, very temperate day today in Westminster.
00:44It was certainly much more chilly last year.
00:47But I suppose the main question here is, has this year's budget had a warm reception?
00:51And that's something we'll definitely endeavour to try and answer throughout tonight's show,
00:55as we hear from politicians and the public alike.
00:59As the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr John Healey, delivered his first budget today.
01:05That's the third fiscal plan from Labour since they took over as the leader of the government in 2024.
01:12And it's a budget by what he called, it was marked by what he called breathing space.
01:18And I wish I counted exactly how many times he mentioned that phrase, because it was a lot.
01:23And what Mr Healey really meant by that was, he felt his budget was one that would ease the pressures
01:29of the cost of living for the everyday person across the country.
01:32And of course, across in Kent as well.
01:35And some of the key takeaways included cutting tariffs from over 100 items of food,
01:41an £100 energy payment for millions across the county.
01:46And by following some of the key fiscal rules that were set by the previous leader of the Labour Party,
01:52Sakhir Starmer, in 2024, and one of those included not raising taxes on the working person.
01:59But not everyone has had such a warm response to the budget.
02:03The leader of the opposition, that's Kemi Badenoch, of the Conservatives,
02:07was incredibly scathing about Mr Healey's budget.
02:10She said it was not good enough, it was not strong enough, and not bold enough.
02:14And that kind of mild sentiment is something that we've seen echoed through some of the Kent politicians that we've
02:20spoken to,
02:21that you'll hear from throughout the show.
02:23But first, before we get into that political debate, let's hear from residents across Kent.
02:29What, £600 million has been allocated towards the use of AI in the UK.
02:33Do you see this as a positive or a negative?
02:36Yeah, I use ChetGPT quite a lot of the time, but I don't know what they're going to do with
02:44this £600 million.
02:45£1 billion has been allocated to fund social housing. Do you think the government can stick to this?
02:50The main practice have decided that this would be a target for them,
02:55rather than something that they can realistically meet.
02:58But who's to say? I mean, a billion, given the size of the British economy,
03:02a billion doesn't sound to be too much, to my mind.
03:06So what would you like the budget to be spent on?
03:10Homelessness, I think a lot of.
03:12Yeah, because there's a lot of people that you see on the streets.
03:15I know some of them do have places to go to, I know that.
03:18But the genuine ones are the ones that get forgotten.
03:28That's some resident reaction there.
03:30But from the public, let's go straight to some of the politicians.
03:34One of which we spoke to earlier today was Helen Whateley.
03:37Not only is she an MP here in Kent, she's also the Shadow Secretary for Work and Pensions.
03:42And she was both scathing, not just about, I suppose, the lack of strength,
03:47as she would say in Mr Healey's budget,
03:49but also the lack of acknowledgement of the welfare bill that a lot of politicians have been bringing up.
03:56So let's hear what she had to say.
03:58My initial reaction was, was that it?
04:01When he sat down, I was like, hold on, when are we actually going to get the real budget?
04:05It was amazingly empty.
04:06I know that it's a fact that we have a Prime Minister who makes a big deal,
04:11that he's a man from Manchester, he's a King of the North, to say,
04:15and he thinks nothing of Kent and the south-east of England.
04:19I know that many Labour MPs just think it's kind of leafy and lovely
04:23and that we can just be a cash cow for the rest of the country.
04:26So I was not surprised that when the Chancellor was, like, scattering million here,
04:3310 million there, whatever, around the country, there was nothing for Kent.
04:36And I'm afraid that's just part of the course with this government.
04:39And from watching from here in the newsroom, Meg,
04:42it seemed like there were a lot of announcements for up north.
04:46There's not much for Kent there.
04:48Is that kind of the response you've been getting?
04:52Yes, well, Chloe, when things were rolling in throughout the day,
04:55I was listening out and a lot of those places that were receiving funding
05:00for further productivity or further growth were very familiar to me.
05:03I mean, I'm originally from the north, but when I was listening out,
05:06I didn't hear any at all from the south-east, let alone Kent.
05:10I was hearing 50 million for the Leeds College of Building,
05:1320 million for a creative hub in Liverpool,
05:163 million for a tech company in Sheffield,
05:1910 million for an indoor market in Bury,
05:21and another 10 million for another market hall in Stafford,
05:25as well as millions earmarks for projects across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
05:30Of course, John Healy used to be in charge of defence under Sir Keir Starmer,
05:36and his budget was marked by growth, by productivity,
05:41by trying to boost jobs and get the country moving.
05:44But since Andy Burnham has become the Prime Minister here at KMTV,
05:49we've definitely been challenging our Labour politicians here in the county
05:52to ask that important question over and over again,
05:55and that's, will the King of the North leave Kent behind?
05:59And it's something that is definitely on residents' mind,
06:02given that Andy Burnham was originally the mayor for Manchester,
06:05he's an MP in Makerfield, he speaks about devolution
06:08and bringing power to the north as well.
06:11But we didn't hear nothing earmarked for growth or further productivity
06:15here in the county,
06:16and that is despite being home to Europe's busiest port in Dover,
06:20despite being home to a project to connect Essex with Kent under the Thames,
06:26that's the Lower Thames Crossing,
06:27and despite key energy projects,
06:29innovative ones in KMTV and in Dungeness as well.
06:34We know that as well the Prime Minister is big on devolution,
06:38and that he backs transferring power out of Westminster
06:41and into the hands of those that run devolved counties.
06:45Here in Kent, that is something,
06:46I mean, as a local democracy reporter,
06:49I focus on a lot, we know local government reorganisation,
06:53was paused.
06:54We know that a mayor is still murky.
06:56We don't know quite yet in Kent what the future's going to be,
07:00but Mr Healy announced, I suppose,
07:03greater powers for those places that have a mayor,
07:07being able to kind of take more profit from those business rates
07:11and really thrive.
07:13So we actually asked the leader of Medway Council, Vince Maple,
07:16if he felt that Kent was locked out of these opportunities
07:20because we don't yet have a mayor.
07:23So I am working on the basis that we'll have a mayor,
07:25and if we do have that opportunity to bring those additional resources
07:28which currently go to central government
07:31and are distributed however they see fit,
07:33I think having a mayor for our region
07:35who would have the kind of ear of the whole community,
07:37working collaboratively with all the existing councils
07:40and the new councils as we move forward
07:42with other partners across Kent and Medway,
07:45I think that's someone who would be kind of at the heart
07:48of driving forward growth for our community,
07:50more money into people's pockets
07:52and ultimately a positive outcome
07:54for the 1.9 million residents who live here.
