This government needs to be replaced at the earliest opportunity, with Conservative pro-growth ministers
‘I worried for him during our exchanges’: Kemi Badenoch debating with Jonathan Reynolds for Bloomberg TV Jason Alden/Bloomberg
There is a black hole in our economy. A big one. A hole where Labour’s growth strategy should be.
This Government came to power claiming growth was its central mission – the foundation on which they will build their New Jerusalem.
But just three months in, they have shown they have no idea how the economy works, no inkling of how to support business, no chance of securing the investment we need. All Labour has are plans to drive out wealth creators, push up the costs of industry, and send struggling small businesses to the wall. Britain deserves better.
I know what drives growth. As an engineer I know how to deliver projects. Working in financial services I helped small businesses grow. As the business secretary I brought investment into the UK and supported our key industries to flourish globally. That is why I warned before the election that Labour would harm our economy – and they have.
In one of the televised debates of the 2024 general election, I took on my opposite number, Jonathan Reynolds, the then-shadow secretary of state for business and trade, for Bloomberg TV. I like Jonathan and it was a good-natured debate. But I worried for him during our exchanges, because it became clear his policy cupboard was bare.
‘He had nothing to offer the business audience that was positive and pro-growth,’ says Kemi Badenoch of Jonathan Reynolds during TV debate Jason Alden/Bloomberg
After 14 years in opposition, he had nothing to offer the business audience that was positive and pro-growth. That is one of the reasons why the audience in the room decided the detailed arguments I was making were a better answer for our future. I may have won that argument, but, of course, we lost the election.
I hoped that, despite our differences, Jonathan would be able to develop genuinely pro-growth policies in Government. I’m a patriot first, and I want our country to do well and everyone to be better off. But three months on, it’s clear that the business department I left now has a smaller voice, less influence, and fewer ideas, while the policies that are being implemented in other departments are positively anti-growth.
Ed Miliband’s drive for net zero, Angela Rayner’s plans for the labour market, and Rachel Reeves’ approach to tax and spend will end badly for business and our economy.
Let’s start with net zero. I’ve said before that I thought legislating for a target without first coming up with a plan to reach that target was a big mistake. But, while successive Conservative governments were misguided on net zero, this Labour Government is being plain stupid.
‘Green zealots’ Sir Keir Starmer and his Energy Secretary Ed Miliband tour an offshore platform for wind turbine construction off Holyhead
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Christopher Furlong/Getty
As a result of Ed Miliband’s foolish decision to ban new licences for north sea oil production, the Grangemouth Refinery on the Firth of Forth is closing after a century of operations, with the loss of many well-paid jobs across Scotland. It is not the first company to quit these shores as a result of Miliband’s green zealotry, and it certainly won’t be the last.
The same ideological instincts will damage our automotive sector too. The car industry is moving towards an electric future. But that transition must be managed with care. We have to ensure that manufacturers remain profitable so that they can invest in a sustainable future. Plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030 threatened that.
The loss of Grangemouth oil refinery is ‘plain stupid’, says Kemi Badenoch Jeff J Mitchell/Getty
As the business secretary, I lobbied across the government to bring change. I also secured agreement from Rishi Sunak, the then prime minister, that we would push back the ban to 2035 (ironically, bringing it in-line with the EU). That change gave more time and space for industry to invest, plan and adjust, and allowed more time for the charging infrastructure to be put in place.
Ed Miliband opposed me, putting green ideology ahead of jobs in Sunderland and South Derbyshire, and Labour have now set the deadline back to 2030. The result is not just bad for investment but also strengthens autocratic regimes. Car manufacturers are becoming increasingly reliant on China, not selling enough EVs to make their UK plants economic, and will soon be coming to Keir Starmer cap-in-hand with threats to quit the country and demands for taxpayer bailouts. As they did to me before I secured the change. So much for “securonomics”.
It’s no surprise that even trade unionists are worried about the impact on jobs. As Gary Smith of the GMB union said Miliband’s eco-policies are “Venezuelan”, they will result in “throwing people on the dole” and that “is not the solution”.
But the threat to jobs doesn’t just come from Miliband. Angela Rayner’s plans to make our labour market less flexible will deter companies from hiring young workers. Business people know that new rights to work from home, to demand time off, to restrict probationary periods for new hires and extend woke equality provisions, will add to costs and slow growth.
Angela Rayner’s plans to make our labour market less flexible will deter companies from hiring young workers ADAM VAUGHAN/SHUTTERSTOCK
This country’s economy took off when Margaret Thatcher reformed the labour market. Angela Rayner has pledged to reverse all those gains. Just as the world becomes more competitive, Britain becomes less so.
Angela has been criticised recently for going on holiday. I don’t mind that. Every politician needs a break. The real problem is that her plans for the labour market are a holiday from reality.
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It’s not just the prospects for employment growth that are disappearing. So are our wealth creators. Rachel Reeves proposed tax increases are already driving entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders abroad. We are losing the brains who generate innovation, the funds that seed new businesses, the people who drive our economy forward.
The only visible growth Rachel has secured is in the number of people applying for residency in Monaco, Abu Dhabi and New York. They won’t be here to pay any taxes. Neither will their money.
Rachel has tried to mitigate the damage by bigging up an investment summit she is holding next month. I organised an investment summit last year, which brought £30 billion to Britain last November and we should always want to support any government in selling the strengths of our country. But Rachel’s summit comes before a Budget that will bring new tax rises.
Rachel Reeves has scheduled her investment summit weeks in the run up to the Autumn Budget RASID NECATI ASLIM/ANADOLU
Businesses will be wary of making commitments before they know exactly what the regime will be for capital gains and other taxes. My prediction is that there will be some deals announced – but they will be deals where the hard yards of negotiation occurred under the last Conservative government – and that some of the proposals we were ready to land will disappear because of fear of tax rises, labour market restrictions and higher energy costs.
As the business secretary, I had to work hard to push back against the green lobby, the trade unions and even, sometimes, the Treasury, to put our wealth creators first and back manufacturing. That’s the job. I managed to change policy to strengthen the automotive sector, help the steel industry, see off the wrong tax policies and resist those who wanted more rules on everything from building regulations to union involvement which would have harmed jobs.
Sadly, Jonathan Reynolds has not been able to use the Business department to put business first. That is why we need to make sure we remove this Labour Government at the first opportunity. We need a renewed Conservative government with pro-growth ministers to liberate the talents of our population, strengthen our manufacturing sector, ensure energy abundance.
That’s what will create a brighter future for the UK and what is at the heart of my campaign to lead the Conservative Party.
This government needs to be replaced at the earliest opportunity, with Conservative pro-growth ministers
There is a black hole in our economy. A big one. A hole where Labour’s growth strategy should be.
This Government came to power claiming growth was its central mission – the foundation on which they will build their New Jerusalem.
But just three months in, they have shown they have no idea how the economy works, no inkling of how to support business, no chance of securing the investment we need. All Labour has are plans to drive out wealth creators, push up the costs of industry, and send struggling small businesses to the wall. Britain deserves better.
I know what drives growth. As an engineer I know how to deliver projects. Working in financial services I helped small businesses grow. As the business secretary I brought investment into the UK and supported our key industries to flourish globally. That is why I warned before the election that Labour would harm our economy – and they have.
In one of the televised debates of the 2024 general election, I took on my opposite number, Jonathan Reynolds, the then-shadow secretary of state for business and trade, for Bloomberg TV. I like Jonathan and it was a good-natured debate. But I worried for him during our exchanges, because it became clear his policy cupboard was bare.
After 14 years in opposition, he had nothing to offer the business audience that was positive and pro-growth. That is one of the reasons why the audience in the room decided the detailed arguments I was making were a better answer for our future. I may have won that argument, but, of course, we lost the election.
I hoped that, despite our differences, Jonathan would be able to develop genuinely pro-growth policies in Government. I’m a patriot first, and I want our country to do well and everyone to be better off. But three months on, it’s clear that the business department I left now has a smaller voice, less influence, and fewer ideas, while the policies that are being implemented in other departments are positively anti-growth.
Ed Miliband’s drive for net zero, Angela Rayner’s plans for the labour market, and Rachel Reeves’ approach to tax and spend will end badly for business and our economy.
Let’s start with net zero. I’ve said before that I thought legislating for a target without first coming up with a plan to reach that target was a big mistake. But, while successive Conservative governments were misguided on net zero, this Labour Government is being plain stupid.
As a result of Ed Miliband’s foolish decision to ban new licences for north sea oil production, the Grangemouth Refinery on the Firth of Forth is closing after a century of operations, with the loss of many well-paid jobs across Scotland. It is not the first company to quit these shores as a result of Miliband’s green zealotry, and it certainly won’t be the last.
The same ideological instincts will damage our automotive sector too. The car industry is moving towards an electric future. But that transition must be managed with care. We have to ensure that manufacturers remain profitable so that they can invest in a sustainable future. Plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030 threatened that.
As the business secretary, I lobbied across the government to bring change. I also secured agreement from Rishi Sunak, the then prime minister, that we would push back the ban to 2035 (ironically, bringing it in-line with the EU). That change gave more time and space for industry to invest, plan and adjust, and allowed more time for the charging infrastructure to be put in place.
Ed Miliband opposed me, putting green ideology ahead of jobs in Sunderland and South Derbyshire, and Labour have now set the deadline back to 2030. The result is not just bad for investment but also strengthens autocratic regimes. Car manufacturers are becoming increasingly reliant on China, not selling enough EVs to make their UK plants economic, and will soon be coming to Keir Starmer cap-in-hand with threats to quit the country and demands for taxpayer bailouts. As they did to me before I secured the change. So much for “securonomics”.
It’s no surprise that even trade unionists are worried about the impact on jobs. As Gary Smith of the GMB union said Miliband’s eco-policies are “Venezuelan”, they will result in “throwing people on the dole” and that “is not the solution”.
But the threat to jobs doesn’t just come from Miliband. Angela Rayner’s plans to make our labour market less flexible will deter companies from hiring young workers. Business people know that new rights to work from home, to demand time off, to restrict probationary periods for new hires and extend woke equality provisions, will add to costs and slow growth.
This country’s economy took off when Margaret Thatcher reformed the labour market. Angela Rayner has pledged to reverse all those gains. Just as the world becomes more competitive, Britain becomes less so.
Angela has been criticised recently for going on holiday. I don’t mind that. Every politician needs a break. The real problem is that her plans for the labour market are a holiday from reality.
It’s not just the prospects for employment growth that are disappearing. So are our wealth creators. Rachel Reeves proposed tax increases are already driving entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders abroad. We are losing the brains who generate innovation, the funds that seed new businesses, the people who drive our economy forward.
The only visible growth Rachel has secured is in the number of people applying for residency in Monaco, Abu Dhabi and New York. They won’t be here to pay any taxes. Neither will their money.
Rachel has tried to mitigate the damage by bigging up an investment summit she is holding next month. I organised an investment summit last year, which brought £30 billion to Britain last November and we should always want to support any government in selling the strengths of our country. But Rachel’s summit comes before a Budget that will bring new tax rises.
Businesses will be wary of making commitments before they know exactly what the regime will be for capital gains and other taxes. My prediction is that there will be some deals announced – but they will be deals where the hard yards of negotiation occurred under the last Conservative government – and that some of the proposals we were ready to land will disappear because of fear of tax rises, labour market restrictions and higher energy costs.
As the business secretary, I had to work hard to push back against the green lobby, the trade unions and even, sometimes, the Treasury, to put our wealth creators first and back manufacturing. That’s the job. I managed to change policy to strengthen the automotive sector, help the steel industry, see off the wrong tax policies and resist those who wanted more rules on everything from building regulations to union involvement which would have harmed jobs.
Sadly, Jonathan Reynolds has not been able to use the Business department to put business first. That is why we need to make sure we remove this Labour Government at the first opportunity. We need a renewed Conservative government with pro-growth ministers to liberate the talents of our population, strengthen our manufacturing sector, ensure energy abundance.
That’s what will create a brighter future for the UK and what is at the heart of my campaign to lead the Conservative Party.