It felt like the Chancellor was living on another planet listening to Budget 2024.

Crisis, what crisis?  Yet the rosy picture he painted couldn’t be further from the reality for people in Hornsey & Wood Green.  Food prices are still 25% higher than they were two years ago. Rents are up by 20%. It will cost hundreds extra a month for a typical family remortgaging this year, because the Conservatives crashed the economy and made you pay for their damage.

People watching will have been asking themselves if they’re better off than they were 14 years ago and if our creaking public services are working when we need them. The answer, after 14 years of Tory chaos and failure is: no.

I used my speech in the Budget debate to challenge the Chancellor on his broken childcare promise.  One year since he stood up in the Chamber to promise additional free hours, now he tells the BBC it can’t be guaranteed that everyone eligible can access it.  Locally we’ve seen nurseries close down because they can’t get the staff, and anxious parents have shared their experience of desperately calling 25+ childminders and not finding anyone with space.

I also highlighted the soaring homelessness that has left 85,000 children in London living in unsuitable temporary housing.  It is a scandal that is destroying lives – and one that is costing London Councils £90 million a month.  Money that should be being used on building the high-quality social housing we so desperately need.

Watch my full speech below.

Today was the last desperate act of a party that has failed. It’s time for change. It’s time for a General Election.