BLITZ BUREAU
IN her first speech as Chancellor, Rachel Reeves promised to take immediate action to fix the foundations of the economy, rebuild Britain and make every part of the country better off.
Top priorities
“Today I am taking immediate action to fix Britain’s economic foundations,” she said in her statement on July 8. The Chancellor also pledged to leaders of some of the UK’s pioneering industries to build growth on strong and secure foundations built on stability, investment and reform, and forged through a new partnership with the private sector.
Setting out her first steps to deliver on the government’s commitments in its manifesto that every action it takes will be based on sound money and economy stability, the Chancellor promised a new economic model that will grow the economy and keep taxes, inflation and mortgages as low as possible.
She said that had the UK economy grown at the average rate of OECD economies over the fourte en years from 2010, it would be £143.3 billion larger – worth £5,053 for every household in the country. This could have brought in an additional £58 billion in tax revenues in the last year alone to sustain public services.
1.5 million homes
She announced a series of measures in her speech, including steps to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years and the immediate removal of the de facto ban on onshore windfarms in England, as part of its clean energy mission.
“By growing our economy we can rebuild Britain and make every part of the country better off,” declared the Chancellor.