Reeves to set out plan to “reboot” economy amid “Tory tombola of tax cuts”

Rachel Reeves will set out Labour’s plan to “reboot our economy” while arguing that “any lingering sense that the Conservatives are the party of economic responsibility has been shredded to pieces over the past few days”.

In a speech to the Resolution Foundation’s economy 2030 inquiry conference on Wednesday, the Shadow Chancellor will tell those watching that Labour’s “iron-clad” fiscal rules will protect public finances and grow the economy.

Keir Starmer claimed on Monday that contenders to replace Boris Johnson in the Tory leadership election made more than £200bn of unfunded spending commitments over the last weekend, just days after the contest had begun.

“Instead of setting out serious plans to help people with the cost of living crisis, just as we hear terrifying estimates of how much energy bills will go up again in October, we are presented with the extraordinary spectacle of a Tory tombola of tax cuts – with no explanation of what public services will be cut, or how else they’d be paid for,” Reeves is expected to say.

“The level of unfunded tax cuts being bandied about this week would blow a massive hole in the public finances. Every single Conservative leadership candidate supported the government’s fiscal rules when they were passed into law in January, but now they are prepared to take a flamethrower to them.”

The “iron-clad” fiscal rules, which Reeves will say will “bind the next Labour government”, are expected to include a promise from that her party will only borrow to invest and a commitment to cut the country’s debt burden.

Reeves will tell the conference that the rules will be “paired with an absolute commitment to ending the shocking levels of waste and fraud we’ve seen under this government, strengthened by the creation of a new Office of Value for Money”.

She first announced that Labour would introduce an ‘Office of Value for Money’ at the Labour Party conference last September, that will be “tasked with keeping a watchful eye on how public money is spent and equipped with meaningful powers so no government is allowed to mark its own homework”.

She will add: “Back in September I said that I am more than happy to take on the Tories when it comes to economic competence – because I know we can win. If only I knew back then that they wouldn’t even bother putting up a fight.”

Johnson triggered a Conservative leadership election when he announced that he would stand down last week. The timetable for the leadership election was confirmed on Monday evening, with the final result expected on September 5th.

Nominations for the contest opened this morning and closed at 6pm. Candidates required nominations from 20 MPs to make it on to the ballot. Eight have done so. They will now have to secure 30 votes in the first round of voting by their parliamentary colleagues to remain in the contest.

The list of eight remaining leadership hopefuls will now be whittled down to a final two, through a series of further votes by MPs, by Thursday. Conservative Party members will then decide between the last two in a postal ballot.