With a rictus smile glued to her face, Rachel Reeves sought yesterday to change Labour’s central message from one of unremitting gloom to one of hope.
After weeks of relentless negativity over alleged black holes, broken Britain and ‘tough decisions’ ahead, this was the Chancellor’s bid to lay out her vision for the promised land to come.
No one could argue with most of it. Who wouldn’t want a fairer society, great public services, better schools, higher growth and a strong economy?
However, she offered no discernible strategy for achieving these admirable goals. Nor did she touch on the price we will all have to pay.
Some will have been surprised to hear her say there would be ‘no return to austerity’. For millions of pensioners stripped of their winter fuel allowance it has already arrived and the Budget next month is expected to be an assault on the finances of middle Britain.
While no one could argue with Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ calls for a fairer society and a strong economy, she offered no discernible strategy for achieving these admirable goals – or the price we will all have to pay
Ms Reeves will most likely deliver selective austerity, fleecing the private sector to ratchet up the pay and pensions of state employees, starting with the already inflation-busting wage rises across the public sector
The Chancellor claims she will not raise taxes on ‘working people’ but what does that mean? Does she include those who have worked all their lives but are now retired? Those whose efforts and talent put them in the higher tax brackets? Entrepreneurs? Savers?
More likely she will deliver selective austerity, in which the private sector will be fleeced to ratchet up the pay and pensions of state employees.
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The process has already begun with inflation-busting wage rises across the public sector (which incidentally account for around half of the £22billion black hole supposedly left by the Tories).
Yet far from being grateful, they are ravenous for more. RMT chief Mick Lynch is demanding nothing less than ‘the complete organisation of the UK economy by trade unions’.
He wants to sweep away the Thatcher reforms and make it easier to shut down workplaces and even entire industries if employers fail to meet demands on pay and conditions. Welcome back to the 1970s.
Meanwhile, the hard-Left Unite union launched a bitter attack on Sir Keir Starmer after a conference vote on whether to reverse the winter fuel allowance cut was delayed.
And even as the Chancellor spoke, the Royal College of Nursing said the recent
5.5 per cent pay award for its nurses was not enough and must be improved.
By giving train drivers 15 per cent and junior doctors 22 per cent, Ms Reeves has begun a wage spiral which could strangle any hope of economic growth.
Rather than being grateful, union bosses are demanding more. RMT chief Mick Lynch (pictured) is calling for nothing less than ‘the complete organisation of the UK economy by trade unions’
Hardened by years of industrial trench warfare with the Tories, union barons are not about to bow down to a weak and inexperienced Labour government. On the contrary, they believe they can control it.
Meanwhile, the constant talking down of the economy is having baleful effects. A survey by the analyst S&P Global shows UK businesses are freezing both investment and hiring ahead of the Budget. A separate report last week showed an alarming collapse in business confidence.
Ms Reeves said this would be ‘the most pro-business government we have ever seen’. But why would anyone invest in a country when its Chancellor has been saying for weeks that it is effectively a basket case.
This speech was an attempt to inject some positivity into the Labour narrative, but she will be judged by her deeds, not her words. She told her party: ‘My ambition knows no limits.’ As she is quickly finding out, that is also true of Mr Lynch and his fellow union heavies.
