Rachel Reeves to promise ‘a budget to rebuild Britain’
Rachel Reeves will pledge “a Budget to rebuild Britain” in her speech to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Monday.
The chancellor is under pressure to provide some optimism after Labour’s gloomy messaging on the state of the economy they inherited from the Conservatives.
But her controversial decision to axe winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners threatens to overshadow her speech, with a vote challenging the move expected on the conference floor the same day.
Reeves – also caught up in the donations row which prompted the PM to say Labour’s top team will not accept gifts of clothes in future – is also set to announce plans for a Covid corruption commissioner.
Speaking ahead of her first Budget on Wednesday, 30 October, Reeves will promise there will be “no return to austerity” and set out Labour’s vision for a “decade of renewal”.
Reeves will confirm the appointment next month of a Covid corruption commissioner to help recoup £674 million of disputed contracts the Conservatives had agreed to waive.
The chancellor will also vow to “seek out those who have ripped off the taxpayer, chase them down, take them to court, and claw back every penny of taxpayer’s money that they can”.
She will announce new measures to target tax dodgers and help close the £39.8bn shortfall between the amount of tax owed and actually been.
The plans include recruiting 5,000 more taxmen over the next five years, with 200 new compliance officers set to start at HMRC in November.
On the economy more broadly, Reeves is expected to say: “My optimism for Britain burns as bright as it ever has done.
“My ambition for Britain knows no limits because I can see the prize on offer if we make the right choices now.
“I know that promise has felt far off in recent years, as our growth, productivity and family incomes have fallen behind – but it doesn’t have to be that way.”
However, she will also warn of the need for stability to avoid a Liz Truss-style meltdown of the public finances, whilst also claiming she will avoid austerity.
She will say: “The mini-budget showed us that any plan for growth without stability only leads to ruin.
“So we will make the choices necessary to secure our public finances and fix the foundations for lasting growth.
“Stability, paired with reform, will forge the conditions for business to invest and consumers to spend with confidence – Growth is the challenge and investment is the solution.”
Reeves will be hoping the message resonates with Labour supporters, with polls showing many are unhappy with the decision to stop winter fuel payments of up to £300 being handed out to every pensioner, regardless of wealth, from this year.
Labour’s leadership team has also come under fire from one of their own MPs over accepting donations of clothes despite their six-figure salaries.
York MP Rachael Maskell, who abstained in the vote to support Labour’s winter fuel plans earlier this month, posted on X to register her unhappiness.
She said: “I have been sickened by revelations of ‘donations’.
“It grates against the values of the Labour Party, created to fight for the needs of others, not self.
“Meanwhile pensioners are having their Winter Fuel Payments taken, risking going cold. I trust conference votes to change this.”
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner defended her decision to accept clothes, as well as a stay in Lord Alli’s New York penthouse on a trip to New York.
Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, she said: “I don’t believe I broke any rules.
“I had the use of the apartment and I disclosed that I had the use of the apartment.”
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds also defended their actions, telling the BBC News Channel “no one has done anything wrong”.
Asked if he was unapologetic, Reynolds said: “I think the kind of things you’re talking about, no one has done anything wrong, there’s no suggestion of improper influence.
“This is the transparent system that we have, I think that’s a good thing.”
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