Reeves announces £15bn in transport investment outside of London
There's been criticism today from the Conservatives that this is simply a re-announcement of funds that were already committed.
Reporter: Andrew Misra
Camera: Ken McCallum
Producer: Harry Peet
Additional newsgathering: Meghan Hadfield, Penny Ayres
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Labour does not deserve to win next election without change, Reeves says
Labour does not 'deserve' to win the next election if it does not change the country, Rachel Reeves has said, as she acknowledged some voters were disappointed with the party's record since entering government. The chancellor said she understood the unhappiness felt by some voters towards a government that has U-turned on winter fuel allowance and welfare policies in recent months. Reeves claims she has had to grapple with financial challenges inherited from the Conservatives, while increasing spending to repair public services. Speaking to broadcaster Iain Dale at the Edinburgh festival fringe, she said: 'The reason people voted Labour at the last election is they want to change and they were unhappy with the way that the country was being governed. 'They know that we inherited a mess. They know it's not easy to put it right, but people are impatient for change. 'I'm impatient for change as well, but I've also got the job of making sure the sums always add up – and it doesn't always make you popular because you can't do anything you might want to do. You certainly can't do everything straight away, all at once.' She told the audience at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre that Labour needed to enact the change that voters wanted. She added otherwise the party did not 'deserve' to win the next general election in 2029. Reeves said the government had the balance 'about right' on taxes, in a week where she faced renewed calls from Labour politicians for a wealth tax. Former Foreign Office minister Anneliese Dodds, who briefly held the shadow chancellor position for Labour in opposition, said ministers should consider evidence set out by the Wealth Tax Commission, which she said had 'changed the debate' on the policy. Reeves said: 'Of course you're going to disappoint people. No one wants to pay more taxes. Everyone wants more money than public spending – and borrowing is not a free option, because you've got to pay for it. 'I think people know those sort of constraints but no one really likes them and I'm the one that has to sort the sums up.' The party faces difficulties ahead of the Scottish parliament elections in Holyrood next year. It has slipped backwards into third place, according to opinion polling, a year after it was neck and neck with the SNP. Polling in June showed it on 19%, behind the SNP in 29% and Reform UK on 22%. This is in contrast to a survey carried out a month after Labour's general election win last year, which showed the party just ahead of the ruling SNP, with Reform languishing far behind. There have been some signs of promise, however, as Labour won the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse byelection for the Scottish parliament in June. The closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery before its transition to an import-only terminal caused unpopularity for Labour. About 400 jobs were lost as a result of it shutting in April. The MP who had championed it being kept open, Brian Leishman, has since been suspended by Labour for rebelling over welfare reform. Meanwhile, the Labour government in Westminster's ban on new drilling in the North Sea has been accused of causing 'strangulation' of the economy in north-east Scotland. However, Reeves told the audience in the Scottish capital that the government was further investing in Scotland. She said the £200m investment in carbon capture technology in Aberdeenshire had been welcomed by the industry. She said she also understood Labour's windfall tax on oil and gas were not welcomed by the sector. 'I can understand that that's extra tax that the oil and gas sector are paying but you can't really have one without the other,' she said.
Telegraph
6 hours ago
- Telegraph
Labour's love affair with business has descended into a messy divorce
Labour's first year in office was like the debut of a bad movie franchise. A long, hot summer of uncertainty followed by a 'shoot 'em up' Budget tax raid. Now despite poor reviews for the original, the producers seem determined to unleash a sequel. We learned this week that, ahead of an autumn Budget, business confidence in the UK is the lowest since records began, confirmed by the Institute of Directors. What started as Labour's love story in opposition has become near all-out war on business in government. The battle between the subtleties of what it takes to foster enterprises and the deployed prejudices of Labour student union politicians, is not a fair fight: taxes, borrowing and regulatory burdens on business are all going the wrong way. Business confidence may be just another number in the long parade of economic indicators heading in the wrong direction but, unlike others, it is forward-looking. It is business confidence that decides if there will be a job available for those collecting their degrees in the next few weeks. And it is business confidence that will be signing – or not signing – that order for winter stock or the Christmas advertising spend next week. What we need is a government that makes it easier, not harder, for businesses to operate – that is the prerequisite for growth in the UK. Conservatives at least understand this, even if too many actions in government deviated from the authentically Conservative beliefs Kemi Badenoch has recently reasserted. For the many senior Conservatives with deep business experience, this is intuitive. Instead, Labour has done everything in its power from the outset to do the exact opposite. The manifesto-breaking National Insurance jobs tax, for example, is laser-focused on raising unemployment while costing £25bn a year. Or take the family business death tax. Family businesses employ nearly 16 million people in the UK. They are now being de-incentivised to line the Treasury coffers, driving up their costs and making them less competitive than foreign competitors or even private equity-owned businesses which don't face the same odious tax. Many of these long-standing family businesses with deep community roots face having to let go the very people to whom they've previously given opportunities. Completing the hat-trick of economic horrors is the 300-page job-killing employment bill – which does the exact opposite of what it says on the tin. Set to bite later this year, this £5bn-a-year burden sets loose the unions who bankroll the Labour Party and buries bosses in red tape. Primed to unleash waves of strikes and crush anyone who dares to grow here in the UK, it will turn employing staff from a minor headache to a raging migraine. Of late, Labour have been trying to gaslight us into believing that everything is fine. Clinging selectively to any cherry-picked data outlier to assert a parallel universe to the one the Institute of Directors or CBI reports. The Chancellor celebrates a minuscule 0.1pc rise in GDP like a Lionesses' win one day while ignoring the cacophony of warnings from those on the frontline such as UKHospitality or the British Retail Consortium. This approach treats businesses like fools, and it never works. To create confidence you need consistency, and business rumbled some time ago that this Government is anything but consistent. They see what I see, and what Telegraph readers see: an underqualified Chancellor completely out of her depth who is more interested in feeding the public spending furnaces than taking tough decisions for the British economy. In possibly the largest brain-drain in history, many of those who can are voting with their feet and leaving for more hospitable countries. Last summer was already a write off after Rachel Reeves spent it trash-talking our own economy and having the longest run in to a Budget for decades. What will this years sequel look like? We can only guess. Perhaps 'A Nightmare on Downing Street' could be its working title? As a responsible Opposition, we want the Government to do what is in the national interest. If Reeves wants to stop the rot, she should pursue radical cuts in spending to shrink taxes and the welfare state. We, like many, would support this. Unfortunately, we know not to hold our breath. Socialists will do what they have always done – continue to smash businesses with higher taxes, higher energy costs and more trade union-sponsored red tape. The result of all this is that confidence will be subdued and decisions put on hold, followed by another painful Budget with the Chancellor pulling the only lever she knows how: higher taxes. We've seen this socialist movie before. Only the names have been changed. The title of this sequel to the first dreadful attempt of a year ago? Less Mission: Impossible, more Mission: Impoverish.
Spectator
11 hours ago
- Spectator
Online Safety Act: are Labour or the Tories worse on free speech?
Is the Online Safety Act protecting children – or threatening free speech? Michael Simmons hosts John Power, who writes the Spectator's cover piece this week on how the Act has inadvertently created online censorship. Implemented and defended by the current Labour government, it is actually the result of legislation passed by the Conservatives in 2023 – which Labour did not support at the time, arguing it didn't go far enough. Michael and John joined by former Conservative MP Miriam Cates who defends the core aims and principles at the heart of the Act. They debate the principles of Big Tech, the risks of government overreach and whether freedom of expression is under threat. Produced by Megan McElroy and Patrick Gibbons.
