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Labour says it will fight the next election on the economy after the shadow chancellor revealed policies to bring in an “era of economic security”.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Stepping on to traditional Conservative election ground, Rachel Reeves promised to cut waste and drive growth in her speech to Labour conference.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“Responsibility must always come first,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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And she unveiled plans aimed at speeding up projects like battery factories and 5G infrastructure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n- Labour urges ministers to ‘clean up’ Covid contracts<\/li>\n
- Labour pledges watchdog power after Truss mini-budget<\/li>\n
- Labour rules out wealth tax if party wins power<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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She told Labour conference: “There is no hope without security, you cannot dream big if you cannot sleep in peace at night.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ms Reeves said Labour would “wage a war against fraud, waste and inefficiency”, including a “crackdown on Tory ministers’ private jet habit”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Labour was “ready to serve” and “ready to lead”, she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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She said that “taxpayers’ money should be spent with the same care with which we spend our own money” but that under the Conservatives it had been “treated with disrespect”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Labour would seek to “slash government consultancy spending”, she said, adding that the cost of hiring consultants has “almost quadrupled in just six years”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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There had been calls from Labour delegates to reinstate the northern leg of HS2 – scrapped by the prime minister last week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ms Reeves made no commitments to rebuild the high-speed line but said a Labour government would commission an independent inquiry into the project.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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There was also a pledge to increase the national minimum wage “taking into account the real cost of living,” without specifying the amount. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Profile push<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Labour has made a concerted effort over recent months to raise Ms Reeves’s profile, given she would be not only at the heart of a Labour government, but their election campaign too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Internally, Labour figures say that taking the fight to the Conservatives on the economy rather than, say, the NHS, is a measure of their political confidence. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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One senior source said that elections are “won and lost on the economy”, adding: “We’re not in our safe zones any more, we’re on their turf.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ms Reeves speech was bookended by glossy videos and a lavish introduction by Cameron-era government advisor Mary Portas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ms Portas declared Ms Reeves would be the best-qualified chancellor ever.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ms Reeves was also labelled “a serious economist” who “understands the big picture” by former Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney, in a video played after the speech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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And the shadow chancellor’s fiery rhetoric repeatedly brought the audience in the conference hall to its feet. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Her vow to levy VAT on private school fees prompted a prolonged bout of whooping in the hall, as did her refrain – used more than once in the speech – that Labour is “ready to serve” and “ready to lead.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n