What Rachel Reeves does next? Surprised no thread on this yet. It's all over Twitter

Apart from we are not doing better than anyone else, the % growth you quote is the amount we have changed, relative to where we were... & its also a very small amount.

Did you not see the public sector borrowing figures for July? the interest amounts we pay on debt?

We aren't out of Covid, let alone Brexit, the billions Brexit has cost us are on going, a barrier to trade and hence growth, even if we magically paid off the money borrowed for Furlough etc, Brexit is forever.

Then there is the NI cuts to be paid for, some £21 billion in total, which Hunt never set aside a penny for, he also never set aside any money for the Pay Review bodies pay rises, not paying their recommendations has severe economic implications too.

Listening to a radio analyst on innovation we are good at ingenuity and start ups but the tax system is not as favourable for scaling up companies eg as the US is

We should look at how to fix that on a tax basis

I fully agree.
I am not an economist, so all the financial gymnastics are lost on me.
If we want real growth, we need to make things, import less, move our money within the country and come up with ideas to export items.
The energy market is a great one to invest in. Wave power is predicted to be a real grower. Why not making a UK Wave Power company, by UK, for UK. UK has always been a pioneer in engineering and exported their ideas all over the world.
This will sound crazy (I know!), but there has been a break through extracting energy from thin air! (University of Massachussets) If you make a conductive material with channels below the 100 nm, the molecules of water contained in the air will bounce between the walls, creating a charge. Same as what happens up there in the clouds, which results in lightning. These materials generate a constant current, in the meantime the air is humid, you have power. Imagine never needing to charge your phone again! Or plug in your computer, radio.... The production of graphene is a UK breakthrough and graphene sounds like the perfect candidate for this.
There is so much technology and ideas waiting to be pushed forward.

Patronising twaddle.

Thank you but I'm not being magnanimous.

I'm being realistic and pragmatic. We have a housing crisis. My family, friends and community have suffered because of it.

I am immensely aware and grateful to have secure, affordable housing and having weathered all the shite the Tories inflicted on me, I'm pretty sure I can cope with a 1% above inflation rise in my rent. Particularly when I know what it's for: to help get the UK out of the fucking mess we're in now.

The UK needs secure, affordable housing for everyone's sake.

I agree, she talked in a really logical positive way and inspired confidence, tbh I think she was one of the main reasons I voted Labour. I wonder whether she was talking a load of bs, or whether she is being limited by others in her party from moving forward positively

And yes, I'm also hoping it's the 'get all the really shit stuff out of the way now and they will have forgotten about it by the time the election comes round' and things will get more positive next year.

Most of the UK's GDP is buoyed by 'financial services, whatever the fuck that means and it's actual use, and centred in that bubble that is London and the SE.

As a people and the various nations that occupy this land we just got to get back to making and designing stuff. Even if we sell and barter it between ourselves.

Financial Services produces nothing and is pointless - for those that currently benefit from it I can only advise that you cash in now,

Rachel Reeves is close to George Osborne? Who would have thought it.

Why thank you!

That doesn't surprise me in the least.

She was saying a lot of the right things about business and encouraging growth, but most of the ideas they've floated since takeover are completely anti-business, anti-growth and economically illiterate. I'm desperately hoping they're just putting the most batshit stuff out there so when they implement just slightly mad stuff instead, everyone will be super-happy with relief.

The Labour Party missed the beat when they ignored Thornberry, what the heck has this extremely capable person done to be so consistently sidelined by her own Party?

Can I be honest and say you lost me at “according to the Times”?

To be fair, Labour was quite clear about which taxes they wouldn’t raise. They didn’t just promise a blanket “no taxes will go up, ever”. And in any case, I struggle to think of a government that takes power and doesn’t break some of its manifesto promises/make some disappointing decisions. They tend to get that out of the way in the first year so that voters will have forgotten by the next GE.

Same, I had high hopes for RR in particular, thinking having worked as an economist she would have some really strong innovative policies, but with a higher level of kindness in them than the Tories. But I have been so disappointed with her malicious fiddling - neither kind nor impactful- complete opposite of what I expected.

I wonder how long they will be allowed to dine out on 'but we inherited a mess'.

Oh gosh! I missed the oppotunity to pile on Clav. Because Clav is a long term factually correct poster that sticks to his/or her 'guns' for many years; often accused of nefarious 'bot' affiliations because of it.

Just for being an individual with their own mind.

Perhaps you could explain further? Imagine I’m quite stupid and have no idea about who these people are and what corruption in government is.

The recently announced strikes have nothing to do with pay; they’re about poor conditions and management bullying. Nobody should have to put up with that, no matter what’s in their pay packet.

Well according to The Times, they're thinking of forcing businesses to bow to unions, even when the workers don't want the union and aren't members of the union. So we might have a workforce where almost all employees wants one thing, but the handful of people who have formed a 'union' can override them and force them - and the company - to have something else. Even if it is hugely disadvantageous to the company and the (non-union) workers. Won't that be fun.

He also left him a superb economy. Labour apparently have their own traditions...

Oh I do hope so! Unions have been stripped of so much power over the last few decades. It would be great if they could have some actual influence again, acting to improve the rights of workers without being hamstrung at every turn by union-busting legislation.
You needn’t worry about a return to the 70s though. The government won’t be repealing the bulk of anti-union law, sadly.

Yeah, this is a scary post - politicians should just lie and cheat so they can cling onto power?! I'm very definitely not comfortable about that, I want a government to treat me like an adult. The fact this lot seem to believe the public are so stupid that they need to be tricked and manipulated into voting for the 'right' party is terrifying, it shows how little regard they have for their electorate. If it continues, I very much do hope the electorate repays them in kind.

I didn't have high hopes for them when they came in, but I did have hopes and, like most people, figured they couldn't be much worse than the Tories. Every day I open the paper I'm starting to realise more and more how wrong I might have been.

Do you not pay any attention to the news? With the likes of scandal-riddled Smith, Douglas, Cooper Bryant and others in the shadow cabinet, corruption is baked in from the start.

Reeves has been telling us for years she'll crack down far harder than the Tories. But people voted Labour, still somehow thinking they'd be the good ones despite this. She's close to George Osborne who has described her as his 'mini-me' - will she outdo his destructive excesses as chancellor? Sadly for me, as a carer I'll be on the sharp end of her austerity drive. So thanks for that, Labour voters!

Great thread OP and it's certainly got the jaws of the 'MN collectiv' chomping and grinding - bless their little cotton socks.....