Today, speaking at UK Finance, the Labour Party Leader; Keir Starmer and Shadow Chancellor; Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, kicked off the first of their five national missions: “Securing the highest sustained growth in the G7”.
Labour says it will grow the economy from the bottom up and middle out: “We know that growth does not just come from a few people at the top, but from the talents and efforts of tens of millions of working people and business in every part of the country.”
The Party has fleshed out its economic mission and based their approach on five “shifts”, each detailed with practical first policy steps:
1️. Providing certainty and stability not chaos and short-term fixes:
First policy steps:
• Introduce clear fiscal rules with a new enhanced role for the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR).
• Set up a new Office for Value for Money.
• Create a new Industrial Strategy Council to advise on its implementation.
2. Seizing new opportunities not letting Britain fall behind in the global race:
First policy steps:
• Provide catalytic public investment through a Green Prosperity Plan.
• Update the planning system to remove barriers to investment in new industries.
• Reform the British Business Bank to unlock institutional investment.
3️. Ensuring all parts of the country contribute not tolerating widening inequality:
First policy steps:
• Introduce a Take Back Control Act to give English towns and cities the tools they need to develop their own growth plans.
• Set up a National Wealth Fund to invest in new industries in all parts of the country.
• Make it easier for universities to develop self-sustaining clusters of innovation, investment, and growth in their local areas.
4️. Giving working people skills and opportunities not leaving potential untapped:
First policy steps:
• Improve the flexibility of the apprenticeship levy, turning it into a ‘Growth and Skills Levy’ to boost training and skills.
• Give more power and flexibility to local areas to run employment support services.
• Help first-time buyers onto the housing ladder and building more affordable homes by reforming planning rules.
5️. Building a resilient trading economy not a weak economy exposed to global shocks:
First policy steps:
• Make Brexit work by closing the holes in the government’s Brexit deal, cutting the red tape hampering some of our leading industries.
• Create Great British Energy to accelerate our drive towards greater energy security.
• Establish a supply chain taskforce to review supply chain needs across critical sectors.
Click here to read the full briefing: https://lnkd.in/en6pRH8J
Photo: Sky News