As City Minister, it was an honour to make the closing Parliamentary speech at this year’s Budget debate.

This Budget is historic for two reasons. It is the first Budget to be delivered by a woman. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves MP, has smashed the glass ceiling, and I hope that the women and young girls watching know that they too can be in the driving seat of political change.

This Budget is also historic because we have rejected economic decline. While the previous Government allowed investment in our country to fall to its lowest level on record, we will put investment at the heart of everything that we do.

That is why we held the international investment summit in October - where the Chancellor and I showed firms at home and abroad that Britain is open for business once more. That is why we have introduced a new fiscal rule - the investment rule - which, alongside appropriate guardrails, means that this Government can meaningfully invest in our country’s future.

There are also two significant investments that I want to share with you, given their relevance to Hampstead and Highgate.

Tulip Siddiq says the recent Budget was historicalTulip Siddiq says the recent Budget was historical (Image: Submitted) Firstly, housing, including the lack of social housing and homelessness, is by far the most common casework I receive from constituents.

To tackle this problem, I am pleased that the Government will spend an average of 2.6% of GDP on public sector net investment over the next five years. This will include an additional £500 million in new funding for social and affordable homes – bringing total investment in housing supply to more than £5 billion, supporting the delivery of tens of thousands of new homes.

Secondly, for people to live happy and productive lives, they need to be healthy. That is why, in the next two years alone, we are putting over £25 billion into the NHS to cut waiting times and deliver an extra 40,000 elective appointments a week.

This includes investment in new surgical hubs, diagnostic scanners and additional hospital beds – building capacity for more than 30,000 additional procedures.

In 10 years time, I hope to look back at this Budget as the moment that Britain got its future back. Delivering on the change Britain voted for.

The merry-go-round of austerity and economic irresponsibility is over. That is a historic moment for this country.

We are rebuilding Britain.

  • Tulip Siddiq is Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate.