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UK Politics Examples

The Labour Party

The Labour Government’s 2025 Budget - Example of Labour Party Policy:

• On the 26th of October 2025, Rachel Reeves delivered Labour’s second budget in government. 

  • Proposing a budget is one of the key powers of the executive, setting out proposed levels of taxation and public spending, as well as any changes to government borrowing.

• On the one hand, the budget can be seen as reflecting Labour’s commitment to left wing principles of higher public spending, wealth redistribution, social justice and increased taxation to fund redistributive policies. 

  • Reeves announced further tax rises, pushing the overall tax burden to a historic high of 38% of GDP, including:

    • Freezing income tax and national insurance thresholds, raising £12.4bn 

    • Introducing a new council tax surcharge on properties worth more than £2m (dubbed the “mansion tax”).

    • A 2p tax increase on income from dividends, savings and property. 

    • An increase in tax on on online gambling from 21% to 40%, raising £1.1bn 

    • A 3p-a-mile levy on electric vehicles. 

  • The budget also committed to a substantial increase in public spending and measures aimed at cost of living support, supporting workers, and welfare, such as:

    • Scrapping the 2-child benefit limit in full, projected to lift 450,000 children out of poverty. 

    • Increasing the minimum wage for over-21s from £12.21/hour to £12.71/hour, and increasing it for 18 to 20-year-olds from £10/hour to £10.85/hour. 

    • Freezing rail fares in England for the first time since 1996. 

    • Providing a £5m investment in secondary school libraries, and £18m for improving playgrounds across England. 

    • A £300m investment for NHS technology upgrades and creating 250 new local patient health centres. 

• On the other hand, it can be argued that the budget was relatively centrist, with limited changes to the overall tax system and only modest adjustments to public spending. 

  • Departmental spending cuts total £6.4bn for departments like the Home Office, Justice and Local Government. This is equivalent to 88% of the average annual cuts made during the austerity years. 

  • Corporation tax, Income Tax, National Insurance and VAT were kept the same, therefore limiting the scope for a significant increase in public spending.

UK Government Examples

Select Committees

Treasury Select Committee Investigation Into HMRC - Example Of The Power Of Select Committees:

• In November 2025, senior HMRC officials were summoned by the Treasury Select Committee as part of an inquiry into the wrongful removal of child benefit from 3,656 parents during the government's anti-fraud crackdown.

  • The Committee launched an investigation in September 2025, uncovering serious errors in how HMRC identified “emigration”. 

  • It found that 2000 parents had their benefits stopped simply for going on holiday, whilst in other cases payments were halted due to trips taken before the parent was even pregnant. 

• Chairwoman Dame Meg Hillier questioned officials on how many families were incorrectly targeted, and what safeguards existed to prevent errors.

  • The committee demanded answers to 114 questions, summoned HMRC Permanent Secretary John Paul-Marks, and requested documentation on how HMRC determined emigration status. 

    • The inquiry prompted HMRC to review its decision, and the government announced several changes to improve the process. 

• This shows the influence of Select Committees. They scrutinise the policies, performance and expenditure of departments, gather written and oral evidence, and can summon witnesses including ministers, civil servants and experts. 

  • The Treasury Select Committee played a crucial role in exposing failures in the government’s benefit fraud crackdown, and directly influencing government policy after ministers had to publicly respond to their findings within 8 weeks. 

    • Following the investigation, HMRC reviewed the policy, reinstated payments and issued backdated compensation where necessary.

House of Lords

Unelected Peers Delay The Assisted Dying Bill - Example of the Power of the House of Lords:

• In November 2025, concerns were raised over delays from the House of Lords to the  Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. 

• After the Commons approved the Bill at third reading in June, Peers tabled more than 1,000 amendments - four times the average number of amendments per page than the next highest bill in the 2024-26 session. 

  • No bill in the last 20 years has attracted such a volume of amendments, and seven opponents alone have submitted over half (579) of the amendments between them. 

• MPs and Peers have criticised the scale of the amendments as a deliberate delaying tactic intended to run down parliamentary time and prevent the Bill’s passage before the end of the session, despite it having been approved by the democratically elected House of Commons. 

  • Private Member’s Bills are particularly susceptible to filibustering and can be “talked out” in this way. 

    • As legalisation of assisted dying was not included in Labour’s election manifesto, the Salisbury Convention does not apply, meaning the Lords are not obligated to pass the Bill. 

    • As a result, the rules over the primacy of the Commons do not apply. 

• This shows a key weakness of the House of Lords. Unelected peers can delay legislation backed by the Commons with a clear democratic mandate, raising concerns that they can anti-democratically frustrate the passage of legislation. 

Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs)

Planted Prime Minister’s Question On Freezing Rail Fares - Example of PMQs Providing Weak Scrutiny:

• On the 26th of November 2025 during Prime Minister’s Questions, PM Sir Keir Starmer was asked a planted question about the government's decision to freeze rail fares for the first time in 30 years. 

  • Labour MP for Luton South, Rachel Hopkins, invited the PM to confirm that commuters in her constituency would save around £400 on their annual rail tickets as a result of the policy, and whether this was only possible under a Labour government. 

    • This allowed Starmer to respond by touting the new policy and government investment in railways, contrasting this approach to the Conservative Party. 

• This clearly shows the weakness in PMQs as it often fails to provide effective scrutiny of the executive. Government backbenchers frequently ask questions drafted by the whips, which are intended to praise the government rather than challenge it.