We are at a crossroads as a nation. Do we want five more years of chaos and decline or stability and change that can build a brighter future? That is what is on the ballot paper at this general election and it is the choice Telegraph readers will have to make on Thursday.
Throughout this campaign, Keir Starmer and I have been clear that the change our country needs can only come from fixing our broken economy. The tax burden is at a 70-year high, our national debt has more than doubled since 2010 and the typical household is thousands of pounds worse off than four years ago. We have become trapped in a low-growth, high-tax cycle that is not working for the British people.
During this campaign, all the Tories want to talk about is tax and spend. It is all they have known over the past 14 years because they have forgotten that the essential ingredients for a successful economy are growth and investment. So, we need a change of approach. That is why Keir Starmer and I have put wealth creation – led by the private sector – at the heart of our manifesto.
I know from talking to businesses that they are ready to invest in Britain. Like me, they see the extraordinary potential we have as a country. The start-up firms founded here and trading with the rest of the world. The universities working with pharmaceutical companies to develop the next generation of cancer treatments. And the latest blockbusters filmed in the UK and shown on screens to millions.
But I know they are also frustrated about the instability of the past 14 years. Too often I hear chief executives tell me that they want to put money into Britain but have been put off by the endless chaos in our politics or the red tape left untouched for years because of the paralysis in Westminster.
Political uncertainty has fuelled economic uncertainty. That is why the first part of our plan to rebuild our economy is to bring back its stability.
I want investors to look at Britain and say it is a safe haven in an increasingly turbulent Europe and the rest of the world. At a time when other countries look to be tilting towards more populist, unstable politics I want Britain to be a secure and stable place where business can invest with confidence.
I worked at the Bank of England as an economist before entering politics. I know what it takes to run a successful economy. That’s why with me as chancellor there will be tough spending rules, robust institutions and every commitment fully funded, fully costed. These principles will be non-negotiable and with that stability we can bring back investment to our shores.
But it should not be the job of government alone to deliver that investment. It will require a new partnership with business. I want to lead the most pro-growth, pro-business Treasury in our history. I want to break the minister-knows-best model of government, with business sat round the table helping to write our plans for the economy. In opposition we have opened our doors to business and in government we will do that, too. That includes hitting the ground running with a new National Wealth Fund that will unlock more than £20 billion of business investment and create more than half a million new jobs in towns and cities across the United Kingdom.
And I want that partnership to deliver the reforms needed to lift the barriers that make it harder to do business. That means having a serious plan to get people back to work who have been left stuck on ballooning hospital waiting lists. If you can work, you should work and with Labour our welfare system will make sure that happens. The partnership must also mean fixing our broken planning system so we can restore the dream of home ownership.
It is an ambitious agenda and I know it won’t be easy to deliver. The next government will inherit the worst set of circumstances since the end of the Second World War. There will be tough choices ahead and it will take hard work.
I know many of you who voted Conservative at the last election – or indeed all your life – want to see change. You want an end to the chaos and a Britain that can stand tall again in the world. That is what you will get with me as chancellor and it is what you will get from a Labour government. On Thursday, if you want that change, you have got to vote for it.
