LABOUR have pledged to focus on promoting economic growth as the answer to the cost of living crisis while warning “you cannot tax and spend your way to economic growth”.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves set out her stall in an impassioned speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Monday, promising the next election would be fought on the economy and outlined policies aimed at promoting growth and cutting “waste” in public spending.
But the SNP have said the party failed to detail a vision which offered “households any meaningful support during this Westminster-made cost of living crisis”.
Reeves said a Labour government would increase state investment in industries, introduce a “genuine living wage” based on the cost of living and introduce new rules to slash Government spending on consultants.
She also said Labour, if it forms the next government, would “accelerate” the building of “critical infrastructure,” attempt to decrease the gender pay gap, abolish the non-dom tax status and end tax loopholes for private schools.
Reeves said: “Labour will tax fairly and spend wisely. But I must tell you, you cannot tax and spend your way to economic growth. The lifeblood of a growing economy is business investment.
“It is investment that allows businesses to expand, create jobs and compete with international rivals with new plants, factories and research labs coming to Britain, not France or Germany or America.”
She added: “So, Labour will aim to restore investment as a share of our GDP to the level that it was under the last Labour government and to bring us in line with our peers, adding an additional £50 billion to our GDP every single year, worth £1700 for every household in Britain.
“But we know, too, that asking businesses to do all the heavy lifting while government steps back is not an option. As our competitors understand, there is a role for governments in encouraging and derisking investments in new and growing industries.
“So, we will provide catalytic investment through a new national wealth fund. Financial responsibility means knowing when not to spend, but it also means making sure that when you invest, you get the bang for your buck.
"So, we will set that new national wealth fund a target: for every pound of investment that we put in, we will leverage in three times as much private investment.”
Addressing the level of government investment Labour would like to see, Reeves promised “a once-in-a-generation set of reforms to accelerate the building of critical infrastructure for energy, transport and housing to fast-track battery factories, life sciences and 5G infrastructure”.
She also announced plans to raise the stamp duty surcharge on overseas buyers and said the creation of a publicly owned energy company create 220,000 jobs and decrease people’s bills.
“So, today, working closely with Ed Miliband, I can announce Labour’s plans to rewire Britain, securing the supply chain we need for lower bills and to build faster and cheaper, opening up new grid connections to competitive tendering,” she said.
“And because the British people should own a stake in their energy system, the publicly-owned Great British energy will look to bid into that competition: 220,000 new jobs, lower bills for good and energy security for Britain.”
Her plans were backed by TUC general secretary Paul Nowak, who said: “Labour’s plan for decent work and increased investment will rebuild our infrastructure hand in hand with unions and employers, and deliver the economic growth and boost to living standards this country has been crying out for.”
But SNP economy spokesperson Drew Hendry said Labour had failed to make tackling the cost of living crisis “a priority”.
He said: “Just like the Tories, the Labour Party's vision for Scotland fails to offer households any meaningful support during this Westminster-made cost of living crisis.
"The need is urgent, yet they have failed to recognise the suffering and make tackling this a priority.
"Keir Starmer's commitment to Brexit, austerity and cruel Tory policies like the two-child cap underline that regardless of whether he or Rishi Sunak enter No. 10, households across Scotland will continue to suffer.
"Scotland deserves better, and can have better.
"The only way for Scotland to rid itself of any future Westminster economic mismanagement is to become an independent country - which would allow us to tackle the cost of living crisis head on, and help build a fairer future for all."
