Rachel Reeves conference speech: What to expect – and what businesses say

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves will make her keynote Labour conference speech in Liverpool on Monday, promising what the party called “once in a generation reform” in order to “get Britain building”.

Several parts of the speech have been released in advance to media. Here’s what to expect:

‘No hope without security’

Reeves will say: “Labour’s task is to restore hope to our politics. The hope that lets us face the future with confidence, with a new era of economic security because there is no hope without security.

“You cannot dream big if you cannot sleep in peace at night. The peace that comes from knowing you have enough to put aside for a rainy day and the knowledge that, when you need them, strong public services will be there for you and your family.

“The strength that allows a society to withstand global shocks because it is from those strong foundations of security, that hope can spring.

“The choice at the election is this. Five more years of the Tory chaos and uncertainty, which has left working people worse off or a changed Labour Party ready to strengthen Britain’s foundations, so working people are better off.”

‘The biggest obstacle to building is the Tories’

She will say: “If we want to spur investment, restore economic security, and revive growth. Then we must get Britain building again.

“The Tories would have you believe we can’t build anything anymore. In fact, the single biggest obstacle to building infrastructure, to investment and to growth in this country is the Conservative Party itself.

“If the Tories won’t build, if the Tories can’t build, then we will. Taking head on the obstacles presented by our antiquated planning system.

“Since 2012, decision times for national infrastructure have increased by 65 per cent, now taking four years. Labour stands with the builders not the blockers.

“So today I am announcing our plans to get Britain building. A once in a generation set of reforms to accelerate the building of critical infrastructure for energy, transport, and technology. To fast-track battery factories, life sciences and 5G infrastructure and to tackle the litigation which devours time and money before we ever see shovels in the ground.

“And to make sure that when a local community hosts critical national infrastructure, they will feel the benefits, including lower energy bills.

“It is time we had a government with ambition for our communities. A government siding with the builders not the blockers. A government that will get Britain building again.”

The policy detail…

• The party says: “Planning applications for a single project like the Thames Tunnel can be over 60,000 pages long and cost £800 million of taxpayers’ money…Labour will set national policy guidance on the proportionality of evidence required.”
• A Labour government would simplify this system by building a clear framework for community benefit on clean energy projects.
• Labour will set out clear national guidance on consultation. This will mean that, whilst we will ensure high standards for engagement and democratic accountability, developers will no longer feel the need to run overly lengthy, often duplicative rounds of consultation.
• Labour will increase planning capacity by hiring more than 300 new planners across the public sector.
• Labour will aim to bring business investment as a share of GDP up from 10 per cent to 11 per cent.

Warm welcome from business

Labour has managed to collate business feedback on the speech ideas…even before Reeves delivered it.

Martin McTague, Chair of the Federation of Small Business, said planning reform is a “clear, grown-up policy that will help deliver infrastructure projects we need”.

Greg Jackson, founder and CEO of Octopus Energy Group, said: “We’ll be delighted to see competition in building new grid connections.”

Shevaun Haviland, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, said:

“We’re pleased to see some of our calls in our recently published document, the Power of British Business, have been heard by the Labour Party.

 “Long-term investment in infrastructure is a key ingredient to get our economy back to growth. We are pleased to see a future Labour government would support the building of large-scale factories and improve our digital infrastructure, such as 5G connectivity.”

Read more from LabourList’s conference coverage: 

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