How Anneliese Dodds will sell Labour’s three-step economic plan

Deputy leader, party chair and campaign coordinator Angela Rayner was the star of Connected on its opening weekend. She used her media round and speech to promote Labour’s demands for key workers, highlight the “indefensible” average wage of a social worker and declare that “applause on a Thursday night doesn’t pay the rent”. The arguments are all the more relevant in light of fresh reports that Rishi Sunak is looking at freezes on benefits and public sector pay in response to coronavirus.

Rayner also told her personal story, widely considered to be one of the leadership’s greatest assets, to ensure that the message packed a punch. “My first step in politics wasn’t in the Oxford Union, it was in my trade union,” she said. “40 years ago, a girl named Angela was born. She was born into poverty, and grew up in a Britain that was broken. Scarred by mass unemployment and hardship. The odds were stacked against her. But a Labour government changed that.”

Now it’s the turn of Anneliese Dodds, who will deliver the keynote speech today. The Shadow Chancellor has a tough job going up against Sunak: her opposite number has developed a high profile and high personal ratings, being given the ‘Boris’ treatment as people refer to him as ‘Rishi’. Restaurants and pubs have named their discount offers after the Chancellor even after Eat Out to Help Out ended. Missteps have been made, too: the photo opportunity that showed him serving Wagamama diners without a face covering or visor could see Sunak become the poster boy for the second wave. And unless the government acts fast ahead of furlough ending, there will be huge and avoidable unemployment.

In response to these challenge, Dodds has three Rs: “recover, retrain, rebuild”. This is the outline of her three-step economic plan: a job recovery scheme to replace furlough; a national retraining strategy for workers who have had their hours cut or lost their job; a business rebuilding programme that will help struggling but viable firms. She will urge the government to work “hand-in-hand” with trade unions and businesses, as Labour wants people to know that it understands business as well as public service workers.

There are three Rs, and there also three strands to the intervention this morning. Dodds will talk about a “file of failure” that shows how much money has been wasted by the government during the Covid crisis. Similar to past comments made by the shadow Treasury team’s Bridget Phillipson on “value for money”, Labour will argue – somewhat counterintuitively for much of the public – that the Tories are not spending efficiently. The Shadow Chancellor will reinforce the case for more targeted measures by highlighting the contrast between herself (responsible) and Sunak (doesn’t know the value of public money).

The second strand is that the speech will put an emphasis on values, particularly “security and fairness”. Both new general secretary David Evans and Keir Starmer’s head of policy Claire Ainsley are big fans of the ‘values model’, basically believing that policy is not enough to win an election and the worth of reassuring noises should not be underestimated. Evans wrote about it for LabourList in 2017. Labour has struggled with voters who are more socially conservative, which means the new leadership will talk about Britain, patriotism, family and security at every opportunity.

And the third is something for Labour members to celebrate: policy demands being based on green priorities. The retraining of workers could be part of the just transition to a greener economy, and the business rebuilding programme being proposed would see targeted financial support offered when consistent with the UK’s net zero carbon emissions target.

We’ll be covering the day’s Connected events, from Dodds’ speech starting at 10.35am to the Open Labour and Socialist Campaign Group rallies this evening, and much more in between.