The most revealing moments in politics are often the ones that happen behind closed doors.
That is why the messages published on Tuesday in the so-called ‘Mandelson files’ are so striking. Among the disclosures was a remarkable comment from Pat McFadden, now Labour’s Work and Pensions Secretary, who reportedly complained that 'every meeting' seemed to revolve around the question: 'Who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others?'
Whether Labour ministers like it or not, that single sentence captures precisely what many people across South Suffolk have been telling me since 2024.
They see a Government whose first instinct is not to ask how we grow the economy, encourage enterprise or create opportunity. Instead, they see a Government constantly looking for another group to squeeze, another business to burden, or another tax rise to impose.
The consequences are being felt far beyond Westminster. Take our family farms - agriculture is not just an industry in South Suffolk, it is part of the fabric of our communities. Yet Labour’s Family Farm Tax has created huge anxiety among farming families who want nothing more than to pass on a lifetime’s work to the next generation. Instead of encouraging long-term stewardship of the countryside, the Government has left many farmers wondering whether their children will be able to inherit the farm, and in some cases, feeling that the only option to preserve their farm and save their families from an impossible tax, is by taking their own lives.
The same applies to family businesses. Across the towns and villages throughout our constituency - from Sudbury to Hadleigh, and the Shotley Peninsula to Lawshall - local employers have spent years building successful companies, creating jobs and supporting our communities. They are exactly the sort of people we should be backing. Yet Labour’s approach increasingly sends the opposite message: if you work hard, take risks and succeed, you can expect to be targeted for higher taxes.
Then there is the increase in Employers’ National Insurance rates. Whenever I hold my annual jobs fair, I am struck by the energy and ambition of local businesses. Employers want to recruit. They want to invest. They want to expand. But they also need confidence that Government is on their side.
Instead, business after business tells me the same thing - rising employment costs are making it harder to take on staff. Investment decisions are being delayed. Expansion plans are being reconsidered. At a time when economic growth should be the priority, Labour is making it more expensive to create jobs and for businesses to succeed.
The impact is not only confined to the private sector either. Four months after Rachel Reeves’s first Autumn Budget, I met with East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH), which does extraordinary work supporting children and families during the most difficult moments imaginable. Like many charities and hospices, EACH now faces significant additional costs as a result of the Government’s National Insurance changes. In 2024 it was estimated that this change will cost children's hospices across the country almost £5m extra per year. That means money which could have been spent on frontline care is instead being absorbed by higher employment taxes. It is hard to see how that helps patients, families or the wider community.
What worries me most is the broader message all this sends. Britain has always thrived when people believe that effort will be rewarded. The aspiration to build a business, buy a home, expand a farm, employ more people or leave something behind for your children has been one of our country’s greatest strengths. Yet too often Labour seems uncomfortable with that aspiration.
Of course there will always be those who need support, and a compassionate society should provide it. But there is a crucial difference between helping those who genuinely cannot work and creating a system that increasingly asks those who do work, invest, and take risks to shoulder ever greater burdens. The danger is that we end up discouraging the very activity that generates prosperity in the first place.
The employers I meet across South Suffolk are not asking for special favours. Farmers are not asking for special treatment. Pubs are not asking for preferential status. Manufacturers are not asking for handouts. What they want is a Government that understands where wealth and prosperity come from and recognises that growth, jobs and opportunity cannot simply be taxed into existence.
Finally, Pat McFadden’s private comment about Labour’s obsession with raising taxes to fund a bigger benefit bill cuts right through to my role as Shadow Defence Secretary. We have war on two fronts. Everyone knows we need to spend more on Defence and get on with urgently rearming against the growing threats we face. And yet, Labour have still not published their Defence Investment Plan, the critical document that will set out the detail of their procurement plans – in fact, it’s 9 months late.
Why is it late? Because Labour can’t find the money for Defence. And why is that? As is now 100% clear from McFadden’s comments, Labour have prioritised welfare over defence of the realm.
The country deserves better than that. We need a Government focused on backing aspiration, rewarding hard work and creating the conditions for economic success – not least so that we can afford to fund our public services, including our armed forces.
Published in the East Anglian Daily Times.
