The former governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has formally endorsed Rachel Reeves as the next chancellor of the exchequer as she said the Labour Party was “ready to rebuild Britain.”
In her speech to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Monday, Ms. Reeves promised to pull the economy out of the, “wreckage of Tory misrule.”
After her speech, in a video message Mr. Carney—who was governor between 2013 and 2020—said: “Rachel Reeves is a serious economist. She began her career at the Bank of England, so she understands the big picture.”
“But, crucially she also understands the economics of work, of place and of family. It is beyond time to put her ideas and energy into action,” he added.
Last month Mr. Carney mocked the former prime minister, Liz Truss, saying that instead of delivering “Singapore-on-Thames,” she had actually turned Britain into, “Argentina-on-the-Channel.”
Argentina’s economy is in tatters and inflation is running at 120 percent.
Ms. Truss reacted to his comments, by saying Mr. Carney had been “defensive” about his role in the, “25-year economic consensus that has led to low growth across the western world.”
Reeves Warns of ‘5 More Years of Tory Chaos’
“The choice at the next election is this: five more years of the Tory chaos and uncertainty which has left working people worse off or a changed Labour Party offering stability, investment and economic security so that working people are better off,” she said.“It falls to us to show that Labour are ready to serve, ready to lead and ready to rebuild Britain,” Ms. Reeves added.
She said Labour would update Britain’s “antiquated” planning system to make it quicker and easier to build infrastructure.
Ms. Reeves also confirmed her first budget would withdraw concessions which currently excuse private schools from paying VAT and business rates.
The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is reportedly keen to make private education a battleground issue with Labour but she told him to, “bring it on” if he wanted a fight on the issue when state schools were being taught in temporary classrooms because of the problem with Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.
She also hit out at what she called a “carnival of waste” during the COVID-19 pandemic and said Labour would introduce a corruption commissioner with a “hit squad” of investigators to recoup money lost due to fraud.
Ms. Reeves did not promise to reverse Mr. Sunak’s decision to scrap the Manchester leg of HS2 but she made it clear she blamed the government for letting the project’s costs spiral.
She said: “If I were in the Treasury, I would have been on the phone to the chief executive of HS2 non-stop. Demanding answers, and solutions, on behalf of taxpayers, businesses and commuters.”
Ms. Reeves said: “I will not tolerate taxpayers’ money being treated with the disrespect we have seen over recent years. I will not turn a blind eye to dither, delay and incompetence. I will hold those responsible to account.”
Hunt Criticises Reeves’ Speech
But the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, immediately criticised Ms. Reeves for not mentioning inflation in her speech.He said: “It is extraordinary that inflation wasn’t mentioned once by Rachel Reeves when it is the biggest challenge facing the British economy.”
“Instead, Reeves made it clear Labour will increase borrowing by £28 billion every year which is a fairy tale for the British economy with no happy ending, just higher inflation, higher mortgages, higher debt and lower growth,” added Mr. Hunt.
“Borrowing more doesn’t solve problems, it creates them, the worst kind of short termism when instead we should be taking long term decisions that will actually tackle inflation and unleash growth,” he added.
