At the beginning of his speech to the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, Keir Starmer was covered in glitter by a protestor. As he dusted off his shoulders, took off his jacket, and rolled up his sleeves, he looked like a man ready to start work, ready to run the country. But no complacency, Starmer is adamant about not taking any vote for granted. For many, the declaration: “we’re not the Conservatives,” would have been enough for a standing ovation. But amongst the appropriate amount of Tory bashing, he spoke of some tangible Labour policies. His five missions are: Housing, Energy, NHS, Security, and breaking down class barriers. They’re enough to show that Labour has a plan but there isn’t enough substance for them to be scrutinised like many of the Conservative policies. It was a well delivered, well written and reasonably inspiring speech, something that couldn’t have been said for his Conservative counterparts.
But it’s not Keir’s adequate oratory skills that will win them the election, ‘it’s the economy, stupid’ (I just wanted to use that quote, not to call my readers stupid!). The British economy needs open heart surgery and luckily Labour has a very good surgeon on their team: Rachel Reeves. The self-proclaimed ‘iron’ chancellor, is ‘a serious economist’ with experience working at the Bank of England and a glowing review from her former boss, Mark Carney.
She is set to clamp down on misspent money within government, reducing the number of private jet flights and consultancy fees that ministers have revelled in for too long. Reeves is also determined to make sure Tory mistakes don’t happen again, appointing commissioners to look into HS2 and wasted COVID funds. And, to avoid a repeat of the disastrous ‘mini-budget,’ all major spending changes are subject to an independent review by the Office of Budget Responsibility. But it’s her plan for ‘growth’ that will revive our ailing economy.
It’s called ‘securenomics,’ which is a bit like ‘bidenomics’ but with less of the falling over and forgetfulness. It’s growth from ‘the bottom up and middle out,’ which sounds like a school photographer’s instructions but is actually a very progressive economic policy. Rather than the Truss style ‘trickle-down’ economy where wealth is concentrated in small financial epochs, Reeves wants the state to have a more active role. A new National Wealth Fund, partly funded by a windfall tax, will invest in domestic industries with green initiatives, helping Britain become a global player in the race to Net-Zero. This will create thousands of new jobs and help us on the road to energy independence meaning we’re better protected against fuel price volatility, a major cause of the current cost of living crisis.
Labour has a plan, but it’s ‘long-term,’ which means that we won’t see the benefits for some time. People are struggling now; unable to afford heating, transport, food, and much more. The tax on private school fees and the scrapping of the non-dom status will help raise some immediate funds, but not enough to have a significant impact. Labour plans to build a better Britain but it won’t happen overnight. So, we can all look forward to a brighter, greener, fairer future, under Labour, but we’ll need binoculars. Fortunately, we’ll be in the steady hands of Rachel Reeves.
“File:Official portrait of Rachel Reeves crop 2.jpg” by Chris McAndrew is licensed under CC BY 3.0.