Why some ‘strivers’ say they’re spooked by Rachel Reeves’ ‘Halloween budget’

On a sunny October afternoon in Derbyshire, hundreds of people are pushing their wheelbarrows around a field full of pumpkins in Ashover.

They stop now and again to assess which is the largest, the most orange, the most perfect, and there are little green and grey ones too.

One man has joined the ever- lengthening queue to pay – I ask him if he’s unnerved by the “Halloween budget”, coming on Wednesday.

“I am, I don’t get why it is always hikes and less services,” he says, “standard isn’t it?”.

For months, Labour has warned people that there will be short-term pain for the long-term good.

And, trying to avoid further spooking people, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said that her decisions on tax will be “tough but fair” in order to kick-start the economy and save failing public services, such as hospitals, schools, and roads.

And, she says, “hard-working families”, or “strivers” have nothing to worry about.

“Yes, we’re strivers,” says Ian Strange, who is here with his family. He’s worked in the NHS for 25 years and his wife is a shop worker.

“You’ve got to strive to survive these days,” he says. “Life is tough, you’ve got to strive for a better life for your family.

“Inflation is high, salaries don’t go up, it’s hard to make ends meet, food is expensive, clothes for the kids, heating for the house, it’s really tough to make salaries stretch.”

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Penny Booth, his wife, says they “have to budget for everything” and “can’t take any more financial pain”.

The chancellor says “strivers” may be stuck on NHS waiting lists, their children taught in crumbling schools or workers who can’t afford their own home.

Allen Tomlinson, who runs Ashover Family Farm, counts himself as a striver, but fears that that won’t insulate him from what’s to come.

To supplement his dairy farming, he’s been growing pumpkins, amongst other things, but he’s worried about changes to inheritance tax.

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“Farming has been very difficult these last few years,” he says, “and an increased tax bill could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

“Doing away with agricultural property relief could finish us as a business because I wouldn’t be able to pass this business on to the next generation”.

A solicitor here tells me that he’s been “really busy” with people getting transactions over the line due to concerns about changes to capital gains tax, but he says, “we’ve got to be realistic about the tax we pay and the funds that are needed to improve services”.