{"id":224708,"date":"2025-01-26T18:12:15","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T18:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/26\/chancellors-enthusiasm-has-never-burned-brighter-but-will-her-plans-finally-boost-growth\/"},"modified":"2025-01-26T18:12:15","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T18:12:15","slug":"chancellors-enthusiasm-has-never-burned-brighter-but-will-her-plans-finally-boost-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/26\/chancellors-enthusiasm-has-never-burned-brighter-but-will-her-plans-finally-boost-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Chancellor’s enthusiasm ‘has never burned brighter’ – but will her plans finally boost growth?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The chancellor spent most of her first six months issuing dire warnings about the calamitous state of the public finances she inherited.<\/p>\n

But now, in a dramatic change of tone, Rachel Reeves<\/a><\/strong> is celebrating the UK’s economic possibilities.<\/p>\n

Inspired by Donald Trump’s<\/a><\/strong> economic boosterism, and despite the UK’s flatlining growth figures, she told Trevor Phillips<\/a><\/strong> she’s spent the past few days in Davos “shouting on the world stage about everything our great country has to offer”.<\/p>\n

“My enthusiasm and excitement… has never burned brighter.”<\/p>\n

But this optimistic message isn’t just part of a new international sales pitch, a riposte to critics who believe the chancellor damaged investor confidence in the UK with her gloomy previous prognosis.<\/p>\n

Instead, it’s part of the government’s drive to reconnect with businesses bruised by her tax-raising budget – an attempt to demonstrate that economic growth genuinely is its number one priority – at the expense, perhaps, of all else.<\/p>\n

Of course, the chancellor argues that growth is needed to deliver the level of public services voters expect from a Labour government<\/a><\/strong> – without rapid improvements to the public finances, departments are likely to face austerity-level cuts.<\/p>\n

Now we’re finally getting more detail on the practical strategy to deliver the growth that has proved so elusive for successive governments in recent years – but many of the measures involved are highly controversial.<\/p>\n

Read more: Reeves to seek billions from corporate pension surpluses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

From reducing planning hurdles to demanding regulators strip out red tape, in some ways, the Labour government is now seeking to enact many of the policies promised by Liz Truss.<\/p>\n

Asked about the comparison by Trevor Phillips this morning, Ms Reeves didn’t deny the similarity, arguing only that “we’re doing practical things to get that growth, not just talking about it”.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday in a big speech on growth, we’ll hear more about these practical steps.<\/p>\n

The biggest expected announcement is about the long-awaited expansion of Heathrow Airport<\/a><\/strong>, as well as plans for Gatwick and Luton.<\/p>\n

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As a symbol of going for growth above all else, it couldn’t get much bigger, but the reason the project has failed to get off the ground is that so many people object to it so passionately – for a wide range of reasons, from concern over emissions and our net zero commitments to noise pollution.<\/p>\n

Ms Reeves told Trevor Philips today the decision would be taken with “collective ministerial responsibility”.<\/p>\n

That may be easier said than done.<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:<\/strong>
Man, 19, arrested after female police officer hit by car<\/strong><\/a>
Reeves: ‘No stone should be left unturned’ in Southport inquiry<\/strong><\/a>
Man, 53, charged with murder of university lecturer<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Previously, many members of the cabinet, including Sir Keir Starmer, Environment Secretary Steve Reed and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband voted against expanding the west London airport.<\/p>\n

Supporting the plans will surely be uncomfortable for many on the Labour benches, especially with the Mayor of London so implacably opposed.<\/p>\n

Asked this week if he’d consider resigning over it, though, Mr Miliband responded: “Don’t be ridiculous, no.”<\/p>\n

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Reeves: ‘Happy to look at’ joining pan-EU trading group.<\/span>
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Perhaps the clearest indication of the government’s economic focus comes with the chancellor’s willingness to discuss the possibility of joining a European customs grouping<\/a><\/strong>, the Pan Euro Mediterranean Convention.<\/p>\n

“We are absolutely happy to look at these proposals,” she told Trevor Phillips – quite a contrast to the non-committal answers given by other ministers earlier this week.<\/p>\n

The Conservatives are predictably up in arms, with Andrew Griffiths, the shadow business secretary, quick to ring the Brexit alarm bell.<\/p>\n

“We must avoid undoing Brexit by the back door by aligning with the EU’s low growth model,” he said.<\/p>\n

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While the prime minister has long promised a “reset” in relations with the EU, any hint of backpedalling on Brexit is so politically sensitive that discussion about moving towards a closer economic relationship is always muted.<\/p>\n

The fact Ms Reeves is even looking into this is perhaps, more than anything, a sign of their desire to show they’re willing to consider all options.<\/p>\n

But as with the airports, it’s likely to be a very long time before any of these pro-growth intentions have a practical impact on GDP.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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The chancellor spent most of her first six months issuing dire warnings about the calamitous state of the public finances she inherited. But now, in a dramatic change of tone, Rachel Reeves is celebrating the UK’s economic possibilities. Inspired by Donald Trump’s economic boosterism, and despite the UK’s flatlining growth figures, she told Trevor Phillips […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/25\/01\/768x432\/skynews-heathrow-expansion_6806606.jpg?20250121171225","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[1919,9480,70949,86783,2352,6828,569,1925],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224708"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224708"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224710,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224708\/revisions\/224710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}