Rachel Reeves promised economic growth but has delivered stagnation
SIR – At the end of the 2023/24 financial year, government debt had reached £2.7 trillion. This debt is growing, and the cost of servicing it is in excess of £100 billion per year.
Prior to the general election, Rachel Reeves's mantra was that growth of the economy was the only way to fix this problem. Since the election, she has concentrated on cutting a few billion here and there (mostly from the people who need it), awarding excessive public-sector pay increases to placate the unions, and increasing taxes on businesses.
None of these will help the economy to grow. It is tinkering at best, and negligence at worst. The word growth seems to have been dropped from Labour briefings. Why?
Christine Brown
Richmond, Surrey
SIR – Rachel Reeves and her team at the Treasury have unwittingly managed to set up a national tax-avoidance scheme. Individuals and businesses faced with a record-high tax burden are either packing their bags and leaving Britain, or stopping recruitment, letting go of employees and cancelling investment.
Astonishingly, it appears to have been overlooked by the Treasury that penalising wealth-creators will stop growth in its tracks.
David Chamberlain
Houghton on the Hill, Leicestershire
SIR – Many people who support net zero become less enthusiastic about it when they are required to take a financial hit ('Reeves forced to drop net zero cuts ', report, June 5).
I wonder, therefore, if the Labour Government is telling the truth about the real cost. A 2021 report by the Office for Budget Responsibility estimated that, in order to achieve Britain's net zero emissions target by 2050, an investment of £1.4 trillion (in 2019 prices) would be needed. This is approximately equivalent to 23 years worth of annual UK defence spending. The necessity of investing in the Armed Forces to protect this country from Russian aggression is undisputed, but are we all agreed about bankrupting the nation for the sake of Ed Miliband's climate ambitions?
Gerald Heath
Box, Wiltshire
SIR – In her long and detailed speech about the £15.6 billion to be invested in improving public transport, it would have been nice if Rachel Reeves had mentioned that a few pounds might be spent on upgrading bus shelters.
In the past decade, they have taken over from public telephone boxes as examples of shabbiness and squalor, discouraging potential passengers. Those in my home town are a disgrace, and no one seems to have the will to improve them. I assume this is because few politicians, at any level, ever travel by bus.
Jane Moth
Stone, Staffordshire
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