Rachel Reeves MP: 'Clapped out' Government's levelling up policy won't save our economy

Rachel Reeves MP said Boris Johnson's key pledge was a "slogan devoid of a policy programme" that will never make the "transformational change" needed in Britain.

And she said the policy's failure was hitting particularly hard in the West Midlands, where output has slumped by more than 10 per cent since the start of the pandemic.

The Leeds West MP was in the Black Country as a guest of Wolverhampton South East MP Pat McFadden, who is part of her shadow Treasury team.

The pair visited Mueller Europe in Bilston, where they examined production at the country's only copper pipe manufacturer.

Mrs Reeves, a former Bank of England economist, said for the West Midlands to thrive government and business needed to "work in partnership" to create the jobs of the future.

She said the current "sticking plaster approach" had failed to secure the foundations of Britain's economy.

"Levelling up is just a slogan devoid of a policy programme," she said. "It's bidding for small pots of money that won't make the transformational change that we need to see."

She said Labour's plan to buy, make and sell more in Britain would see government use procurement to support British businesses, instead of contracts "going overseas" as they were under Mr Johnson's administration.

This would make strengthen Britain's economy and make the country "far more resilient" in the face of "shocks" such as the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine, she said.

Mrs Reeves welcomed the Government's U-turn on a windfall tax for energy companies, saying ministers had "accepted the inevitable" and realised such a move was necessary to address the cost of living crisis.

But said Labour had no plans to ramp up taxes on high earners, saying Tory tax rises – numbering 16 in the last two years – were "hitting the pockets of working people".

"Take the national insurance rise that came in back in April," she said. "It means even before you pay a single bill or do your weekly food shop, you've got less money.

"It makes no sense economically to whack up taxes right in the middle of a cost of living crisis."

One tax rise she has proposed is to abolish 'non-dom' status, something few people had heard of until it emerged Rishi Sunak's wife had used it to save herself a fortune.

"He doesn't like that tax rise," she said of her opposite number in the Commons. "The tax rises that he keeps inflicting on us are hurting ordinary working people.

"That won't be Labour's approach. We want to see working people keep more of their own money."

After the turbulence of the Corbyn years, Mrs Reeves said Labour was committed to rebuilding its relationship with business and proving it could be trusted with public finances.

She said she wanted to see business rates reformed as soon as possible to help firms thrive.

"We're a pro-worker party but we're also pro-business, because we want good jobs created in all parts of the country and we need to work with businesses to do that," she said.

"What people can see is that increasingly it's Labour that's generating the ideas and the new thinking in politics. This Government are tired, clapped out and out of ideas. It's time for change."

Mrs Reeves said under Sir Keir Starmer Labour was focused on the "bread and butter" issues that really matter to people, such as good jobs with a decent wage. "I think we took our eye off those issues under the last Labour leadership," she said.

She said her party had targeted winning back support in areas such as Wolverhampton and Sandwell, where Labour now holds just three of 13 seats.

"There's no route back for Labour that doesn't involve rebuilding support in the Black Country," she said.

"The chaos that people are seeing from the Government means that they are more interested in looking at Labour to see what the alternative is. We're making progress but there is a lot more that needs to be done."