Reeves promises ‘shovels in the ground’ in Labour party conference address

The Labour government’s first budget will be a plan with “real ambition”, Rachel Reeves has insisted as the party seeks to counter criticisms of being too gloomy about the state of Britain’s economy.

In her keynote speech at Labour’s conference in Liverpool,  which said little about housing specifically, Reeves hailed Labour’s proposed planning reforms.

She said: “What you will see in your town, your city, is a sight that we have not seen often enough in our country - shovels in the ground, cranes in the sky, the sounds and the sights of the future arriving. We will make that a reality,” she told conference attendees.

The government has outlined several planning policy pledges since coming to power, including restoring mandatory local housing targets and releasing more green belt land for development. Ministers yesterday published a working paper asking for views on its plan to introduce a system of “brownfield passports” to speed up development on urban sites. 

In her speech, Reeves said she will not “let tough decisions dim our ambition for Britain” in the autumn budget, which will take place on 30 October.

In July, Reeves scrapped a series of infrastructure projects including the £2bn Stonehenge Tunnel job due to be built by Costain, and announced a review of the previous government’s £20bn New Hospital Programme.

She said the moves were necessary after the party uncovered a £22bn “black hole” of unfunded spending commitments made by the Conservatives.

Describing the previous Rishi Sunak-led government as “reckless and irresponsible”, she claimed the funding gap had been concealed from Parliament and the British people and departments were allocated money which was “not there”, including £3bn on rail projects.

“They promised solutions that they knew could never be paid for, roads that would never be built, public transport that would never arrive and hospitals that would never treat a single patient,” she said.

Previous Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt has denied his government concealed unfunded spending commitment and called Reeves’ claims “dishonest”.

Reeves said today that despite the funding pressures facing the Treasury there will be “no return to austerity”, describing a previous era of cuts under former prime minister David Cameron as “a destructive choice for our public services and for investment and growth too”.

She said next month’s spending plans will constitute a “budget with real ambition, a budget to fix the foundations, to deliver the change we promise, to rebuild Britain”.

She confirmed a series of expected tax hikes, including VAT on private schools, ending a non-dom tax loop hole, cracking down on tax evasion and extending an energy profits levy on oil and gas producers to invest in home grown energy.

Reeves added Labour would restore stability following a period of inconsistent policy under the Conservatives with a series of long term plans, including an industrial strategy which will be outlined in a green paper next month before being publushed in full in the spring.

The strategy aims to drive growth in manufacturing and services sectors, create new jobs, unlock investment, break down barriers to regional growth and “speed ahead to net zero and clean power by 2030”, the chancellor said.

She also hailed Labour’s proposed planning reforms and some changes which have already been introduced, including lifting a ban on onshore wind schemes.

>>See also: The ins and outs of Labour’s new National Planning Policy Framework

“What you will see in your town, your city, is a sight that we have not seen often enough in our country - shovels in the ground, cranes in the sky, the sounds and the sights of the future arriving. We will make that a reality,” she told conference attendees.

Labour’s industrial and planning strategy will see jobs in life sciences across the north west, clean technology across south Yorkshire, and carbon capture in Teesside, Merseyside and Humberside, Reeves said.

She argued the Conservatives had lost this year’s general election because they “do not understand the world as it is today,” and the “premium of economic stability on an uncertain world”.

“The Tories cling to the discredited trickle down, trickle out dogma that a strong economy can be built through the contribution of just a few people, just a few parts of the country, or a few industries.

“They choked off investment, opened wide gaps between different parts of the country and it suffocated growth and living standards. We will not make those mistakes,” Reeves said.