Labour’s plan to power the UK economy full-steam ahead and deliver growth is built on fairness and a pledge to leave no community behind, the party’s conference has heard.
Sir Keir Starmer is keen to appeal to weary voters suffering the effects of the Tories’ 2022 mini-budget nightmare – during Liz Truss’s 49-day term as prime minister.
He aims to promote Labour as the party of sound fiscal sense, committed to ushering in economic security.
The Labour leader was expected to outline his vision for a decade of economic prosperity in speech at the conference in Liverpool on Tuesday afternoon.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves’s rousing speech on Monday was on the lips of many delegates as they arrived on Tuesday morning.
The National spoke to several who said her address was “captivating” and “inspiring” and offered hope that a Labour government could boost the economy to the benefit of millions of Britons.
Tulip Siddiq, shadow economic secretary, said Labour is “very aware of the opportunities that the City can pose” and said the FinTech sector is one of the areas that is key to growing the economy.
In 2022, the industry reaped the benefits of $9 billion of investment in London and the south-east of England, while only $700 million was spread across the rest of the UK.
“That disparity is something we’ve got to address,” Ms Siddiq told a fringe event focusing on Labour’s plan for economic growth.
“We’re very aware that there’s no way we can grow the country without spreading wealth and jobs into every part of the country,” she added.
Turning to the transition to net zero, Ms Siddiq said she had been working with banks to try to find ways to unlock money for green infrastructure projects.
Government must “play an active role” in overseeing huge societal shifts towards an eco-friendly future, the shadow minister said.
“I think climate change at this point poses the biggest economic and financial challenge certainly of my lifetime,” Ms Siddiq said.
“If we don’t fix it now it’s the next generation that’s going to suffer.
“The economy will be at the cutting edge of innovation. If we don’t make the conditions right we will fall behind on things like AI.”
Sonia Brown, vice-president of Visa Europe, said the firm shares the aspirations of Mr Starmer to make Britain the highest-performing economy in the G7.
But she stressed that nations across the globe are also looking at ways to unlock economic growth therefore competition is tough.
She said the UK should “get ahead of the curve” and introduce suitable and balanced regulatory framework that encourages investment and growth.
Labour Party conference – in pictures
“We don’t want no regulation,” she said. “We just want really good regulation.”
Stewart Wood, Baron Wood of Anfield, a former shadow minister without portfolio, predicted a “very painful first couple of years” after the next election, expected in 2024, before inflation would begin to fall.
Mr Starmer has a strong grasp of the challenges lying ahead of him, he said.
“I think the world needs to take more seriously the mission-led rhetoric of Keir Starmer,” Mr Wood said.
“The more you talk to Keir’s people the more you see they take incredibly seriously a quiet transformational way of changing the landscape in both public services but more broadly in the economy.”
While the traditional view of Labour is that the party is big on nationalisation, Lord Wood argued the key thing in Mr Starmer’s world is the idea that a serious amount of change can be made by mid-level governance changes.
He listed growth incentives, green industry, small business, relations with the EU, and public-private partnerships as areas where “modest governance, mid-level governance change actually can give a serious amount of value added”.
“That’s one of the themes of the last few days, just fleshing out what that might mean in different areas,” he added.
Mark Carney’s endorsement of Labour’s economic plan has offered Mr Starmer’s party a major pre-election coup.
The former Bank of England governor appeared in a video message broadcast to the conference on Monday following Ms Reeves’ speech.
Gasps were heard in the audience as he said the woman hoping to become the UK’s first female chancellor is a “serious economist” who “understands the big picture”.
A fringe event featuring Ms Reeves on Tuesday morning filled up so fast that a queue of loyal backers formed outside the auditorium in the hope that some of those inside would leave early.
Among those hoping to squeeze into Ms Reeves’ event was Coco Huggins, a PhD student and Labour supporter.
She said the atmosphere is much improved on the 2019 Labour conference.
Looking back to the gathering before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, when Jeremy Corbyn was leader of the party, she remembered a gloomy mood.
“It was just awful,” she admitted. “People didn’t feel like there was a way out of all the issues.
“I think now people think there’s a possibility of change. They’re beginning to hope. It may be down to Labour’s new strategy. They’re certainly changing results in the polls.”
She credited Mr Starmer’s ability to reach across the party unite different peoples under one umbrella.
On the faith front, she said the Labour leader has shown his appreciation for different religious groups and they role they play in helping communities, particularly in times of need.
“At the start of the conference, Keir gave a televised message of support to Christians on the left. No matter what type of faith you have the party is welcoming of that and he respects and understands that, whether someone is culturally Jewish or culturally Muslim.”
Ms Huggins said this all-encompassing attitude appears to resonate more with voters than former Labour prime minister Tony Blair’s policy of keeping faith on the sidelines of politics.
Another Labour supporter standing in lines for Ms Reeves’ event said she was “very impressed” by the shadow chancellor’s speech at the conference on Monday.
“She was captivating,” the young woman, who declined to be named, said.
“I watched it on a screen outside the hall and as people passed they were stopping to listen to her.
“Afterwards I went to an event where [shadow health secretary] Wes Streeting was speaking and he kept coming back to her speech. I think she inspires others and the frontbench is interconnected.”
Updated: October 10, 2023, 12:25 PM
