Rachel Reeves to promise Treasury reform as Labour party promises ‘new chapter’ for Britain

Labour’s Rachel Reeves will unveil plans for a “new chapter” for Britain’s economy alongside reform to the Treasury as she delivers the prestigious Mais lecture.

The shadow Chancellor will make the keynote address at the event, held at the Bayes Business School, at City, University of London, this evening, attended by top City figures.

Reeves is expected to outline Labour’s plans to get the economy growing and how an incoming government would put recovery on “strong and secure foundations”.

She is set to say: “Building growth on strong and secure foundations, with active government guided by three imperatives: guaranteeing stability, stimulating investment through partnership with business, and reform to unlock the contribution of working people and the untapped potential throughout our economy.”

And she will say Labour offers “a decade of national renewal”, adding: “As we did at the end of the 1970s, we stand at an inflection point.

“As in earlier decades, the solution lies in wide-ranging supply-side reform to drive investment, remove the blockages constraining our productive capacity, and fashion a new economic settlement, drawing on evolutions in economic thought. 

“A new chapter in Britain’s economic history. And unlike the 1980s, growth in the years to come must be broad-based, inclusive, and resilient.” 

Reeves will argue that under a Labour administration, the Treasury must be ready to “get to work from day one” on bringing economic growth back to Britain. 

She will announce Treasury reform to “hardwire growth” into budget and spending reviews by bolstering the Enterprise and Growth Unit established under the last Labour government.

It will be newly integrated into budget and spending review processes alongside the fiscal and spending departments of the Treasury, to “augment the fiscal triangle”, she will say.

The shadow Chancellor is also expected to describe business investment as the “lifeblood of economic growth” and call for a partnership with firms on jobs, infrastructure and prosperity. 

Labour’s previously announced policies on growth include: planning reform, devolution, and a new industrial strategy.

While the party says half a million jobs will be created across the UK via a new National Wealth Fund investing in the industries of the future. 

The Mais lecture has previously been delivered by speakers including former Bank of England governor Mark Carney and ex-Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.