Chancellor Rachel Reeves used her keynote address at the Labour Party conference to draw sharp battle lines with Nigel Farage and Reform UK, declaring them the “single greatest threat” to Britain’s way of life and living standards.
In a speech heavy on rhetoric but light on new policies, Reeves sought to contrast Labour’s agenda of economic stability and long-term planning with what she characterised as Reform’s “easy answers”. She accused the party of being “in bed with Vladimir Putin” on foreign policy, citing its stance on Ukraine, and warned that Farage had “cheered on” Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget.
“Every time on every issue, it is Labour that is standing up for working people and standing up for our national interest,” Reeves told delegates in Liverpool. “This is a fight that we must win, and it is a fight that we will win.”
Reeves also reignited debate over the role of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). She has suggested that the Treasury should commission just one official forecast a year. But Paul Johnson, the former director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, described scrapping the traditional second forecast as “very odd”, noting that Britain has had biannual assessments for half a century and that most countries follow a similar model.
Johnson told Times Radio: “We’ve had two forecasts a year for I think 50 years, way predating the OBR, and the large majority of other countries have two forecasts … I certainly think they should do two forecasts a year.”
The Chancellor insisted that Labour was determined to rebuild Britain’s economic foundations after what she described as years of Tory mismanagement. She repeated her central message — “don’t let anyone tell you there is not a difference between a Labour government and a Conservative government” — more than a dozen times, prompting a standing ovation.
Reeves promised investment in manufacturing, transport and schools, and reiterated her government’s “youth guarantee”, which will give any young person unemployed for more than 18 months a guaranteed work placement. “We’ve done it before, and we will do it again,” she said, pledging the “abolition of long-term youth unemployment”.
She also cautioned against “peddling” ideas that Britain could “live beyond its means”, in a swipe at Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and others who have pushed for more radical borrowing. Reeves stressed the need for “hard decisions” to protect prosperity, noting that one in every ten pounds of government spending currently goes on debt repayments.
While she struck a tone of fiscal discipline, Reeves avoided any mention of tax rises that are widely expected to be announced in November’s Budget to plug a £30bn hole in the public finances. The Chancellor instead warned of the consequences of Tory debt and said Labour’s second year in office would focus on “building a renewed economy”.
But observers noted the lack of giveaways. “The state of government finances means she has no money for political announcements,” wrote Oliver Wright, adding that Reeves’ speech was inevitably high on positioning and low on policy.
Business groups gave a cautious welcome. Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the CBI, said firms would appreciate Reeves’ focus on fiscal stability, youth employment and investment. But she warned that the “real test” would be whether government policy cut costs and complexity for businesses.
“Now is the time to shift decisively from strategy to full-throttle delivery,” she said. “That means addressing the barriers holding firms back – like ensuring the Employment Rights Bill doesn’t suppress hiring decisions.”
