2026
9th Feb - Labour's broken promises - Economic stability, low inflation and taxes - Number 10
During the election, Labour promised they would deliver economic stability and keep taxes, inflation and mortgages as low as possible
What has actually happened....
Business rates - They pledged: ‘Labour will replace the business rates system, so we can raise the same revenue but in a fairer way. This new system will level the playing field between the high street and online giants’. The reverse has happened
- Labour are hiking business rates, which are already firms’ third biggest cost after staff and rent. The rate hikes are a double whammy, on top of Labour’s National Insurance Jobs Tax. Pubs are also facing more red tape from the so-called Employment Rights Act and new nanny state measures which will reduce their custom.
- In 2025, Labour hammered firms with higher business rates and higher National Insurance. In April 2025, the Labour Government slashed back Retail, Hospitality and Leisure business rate relief, originally introduced by Conservatives, from 75 per cent in 2024-25 to40 per cent in 2025-26. This is a tax rise of £1.1 billion a year from 2024-25 to 2025-26 which dwarfs Labour’s sticking plaster measure
Tax
- Despite pledging to ‘not increase taxes on working people’, Labour have hiked taxes by £60 billion, pushing the tax burden to a record high. The Labour Party Manifesto for the 2024 General Election said: ‘Labour will not increase taxes on working people’. However, Labour’s first two Budgets have increased taxes by £36 billion and £26 billion respectively, pushing the tax burden to a historic high of 38.3% of GDP.. Despite her pledge not to ‘come back for more’, Rachel Reeves increased taxes by £26 billion, pushing the tax burden to a historic high of 38.3 per cent of GDP.
- For the average pub with eight employees, the National Insurance Jobs Tax is going to add £7,200 of tax to the wage bill
- Labour are hiking Council Tax, leaving families paying £1,143 extra over thisParliament. As Labour set out in the Spending Review, for an average Band D home in England, these annual hikes over this Parliament will increase bills by £468 a year, taking the annual bill to £2,639 a year –equivalent to £220 a month from families’ take-home pay. From 2024-25 to 2028-29, the increase over the Parliament will be £468 a year, or a cumulative increase of £1,143 on average Band D bills in England
The economy
- Labour lied about the public finances and forced out the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) Chair, Richard Hughes, for telling the truth. Days after publishing a letter proving the Chancellor misled the public, which revealed she had headroom of £4.2 billion when she claimed a blackhole was forcing her to drop her manifesto pledges and hike Income Tax.
- The unemployment rate is 5.1 per cent, its highest level since the pandemic. The unemployment rate for 16 and over remained at 5.1 per cent in September to November 2025, up from 4.2 per cent at the election
Inflation
Inflation is rising, having remained above the Bank of England’s target every month of 2025. Having inherited inflation on the 2.0 per cent target, new figures show it rose by 3.4 per cent in the 12 months to December 2025, up from 3.2 per cent in the 12 months to November, meaning inflation has exceeded the Bank of England’s target every month since Labour’s first Budget. Additionally, the OBR’s November 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook uprated the CPI inflation forecast for 2026 from 2.1 to 2.5 percent
28th Jan - Labour's broken promises - Recruiting thousands more police - Number 9
During the election, Labour promised they would recruit thousands of new police officers and PCSOs and pledged to recruit 13,000 new officers by 2029
What has actually happened....
Police numbers have dropped dramatically under Labour, according to Home office stats
- 145,550 FTE police officers, down 892 FTE or 0.6% on 146,442 FTE in March 2025
- 81,662 FTE police staff and designated officers, down 340 FTE or 0.4% on 82,002 FTE in March 2025
- 7,213 FTE PCSOs, down 102 FTE or 1.4% on 7,315 FTE in March 2025
12th June - Labour's broken promises - Scrapping asylum hotels - Number 8
During the election, Labour promised they would smash the criminal boat gangs and scrap asylum hotels.
We would pass the Deportation Bill – a bold, no-nonsense plan to take back control of our borders and fix the broken immigration system. The measures include automatically deporting anyone who arrives in the country illegally and disapplying the Human Rights Act from all immigration-related matters.
20th January - Labours Budget of broken promises - Royal Berkshire Hospital Rebuild - Number 7
During the election, Labour promised they would rebuild the RBH in this parliament, Yuan Yang criticised the Conservative government for not moving fast enough and said Labour would do better, rebuilding RBH was apparently her first priority. Following the election she refused to be drawn on her campaigns on RBH but categorically stated that the project had not been cancelled.
What has actually happened....
On 20th January Wes Streeting announced that the much-needed project to rebuild the RBH would be deferred until 2035-39, that's at least 3 Parliaments away, its likely Labour will be a distant nightmare by then, thats as good as a cancellation. A complete betrayal of the people of this area following a cynical campaign to gain votes by promising action.
3rd January - Labours Budget of broken promises - Energy Bills - Number 6
During the election, Labour promised they would cut energy bills for good. Labour announced proposals to “set up Great British Energy, a publicly-owned clean power company”, and in the run-up to the election, prominent Labour politicians claimed that this would cut bills by up to £300 a year.
What has actually happened....
On 1 January the latest Energy Price Cap came into effect – this is the second time energy bills have risen despite a clear promise by the government to cut energy bills – another broken promise which we are paying the price for.
1st January - Labours Budget of broken promises - Smash the criminal boat gangs - Number 5
During the election, Labour promised they would smash the criminal boat gangs.
What has actually happened....
Recently released figures show the number of small boat arrivals has increased by nearly 29 per cent since Labour came to power. Between 5 July and 31 December 2024, there have been 23,242 arrivals by small boat, a 29 per cent increase on the same period in 2023.
2024
30th October - Labours Autumn Budget of broken promises - Working people - Number 4
Keir Starmer told the country that they could trust Labour’s promises not to raise taxes and not to unleash a borrowing spree. In the House of Commons on 9th October this year he said STARMER: ‘We made an absolute commitment to not raise tax on working people. Rachel Reeves said a rise in National Insurance was a ‘tax purely on people who work’. (Hansard 19 Oct 2021)
What actually happened....
Labour have done just that and more. They fiddled the fiscal rules, increased borrowing by billions of pounds, and raised taxes on businesses – which they have now admitted will leave working people worse off.
The Office of Budget Responsibility have said an increase in employer National Insurance will be passed through ‘entirely’ onto working people
October 30th - Labours Autumn Budget of broken promises - for Farmers - Number 3
Keir Starmer, Steve Reed and the Labour Party told farmers that Labour respects them, would protect their livelihoods and promised that they would not change Agricultural Property Relief for farmers. (Feb 23 NFU conference, November 23 NFU statment, CLA conference reported in the FT, December 23 )
What actually happened...
In the 2024 Autumn Budget, Labour broke their promise to farmers – reducing the relief and imposing inheritance tax rates on farmland – which will devastate family farms and pose a serious risk to domestic food security and food prices.
The 2024 Autumn Budget reduced Inheritance Tax relief on combined agricultural and business assets after the first £1 million from 100 per cent to 50 per cent (HM Treasury, Autumn Budget 2024, p. 48, 30 October
Amongst Labour’s Budget of broken promises, Labour have made the political choice to target family farms and the consequences will be felt by thousands of farms and families across the country.
September 10th - Broken promise number 2
In Yuan Yang's election campaign in July 2024 - she said she wanted to
Help people with their fuel bills and keep homes warm with an insulation plan
What actually happened...
10th September, 86 days after the election, Yuan Yang our MP voted to scrap the pensioner's winter fuel allowance. Pensioners expected help with heating costs, they didn't expect the removal of their winter fuel allowance.
Yuan Yang and Labour taking money from vulnerable pensioners.
July 28th - Broken promise number 1 *updated*
In Yuan Yang's election campaign in July 2024 - she said her first priority in the campaign was to
Build a New Royal Berks Hospital
Our NHS staff at the Royal Berkshire Hospital are working very hard to deliver care for their patients. But staff and patients alike are being let down by the out-of-date facilities and cramped conditions.
We cannot wait any longer for an NHS that's fit for purpose. Labour will deliver a new RBH fit for the 21st century,
What has actually happened...
28th July, 24 days after the election, the Labour Chancellor announced a review of the whole new Hospital programme, RBH said “More delays to providing facilities that are fit for the future will be disappointing news for our patients, staff and our wider community." On the 20th September the paper confirming this was sneaked out without announcement.
We call on Yuan Yang to keep her promises, stand up to her party and stand up for residents, and join with us and fight for a new hospital to replace the RBH.