Daily Mail readers value economic stability, secure borders and strong public services. And they want politicians who are in the service of their country, not their party.
Those are my values – they are Keir Starmer‘s values – and that is why at the start of this General Election campaign, I feel I can say to Mail readers that your natural home is now the Labour Party.
I know that is not what you would expect to hear from a Labour politician. But, since the General Election four years ago, both political parties have changed.
Take the economy. Back in the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher proclaimed that the Conservatives were the party of sound money. But three decades on from when she left office, it was the Conservatives who crashed the economy, put pensions in peril and sent the average monthly mortgage repayments up by £240 a month.
Taxes are at a 70-year high, national debt has more than doubled since 2010 and the typical household is £5,900 worse off than they were four years ago.
Rachel Reeves visits Wrights of London cafe to discuss the cost of living on May 22
Sir Keir Starmer attends the launch of the Scottish Labour’s general election campaign on May 24
Is Rishi Sunak being honest with you about his record in power? No. During this campaign he will tell you that the current cost of living crisis is ‘normal’. It isn’t. He will tell you that high taxes and low growth are ‘normal’. They aren’t. And he will tell you that he got inflation down. He didn’t.
Inflation rose when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer and it has only fallen because of the decisions taken by the Bank of England to hike interest rates, leaving homeowners paying higher mortgage bills.
No one is going to give a box of matches back to the arsonists whose burnt the house down.
The honest truth about the Conservatives’ record in power is a Britain that is poorer and working people who are worse off. I am so much more ambitious for Britain than this.
But if we are to earn your trust when you go to the ballot box in less than six weeks, I know it is not enough to tell you why the Conservatives have failed. You rightly want to know why you can trust us and the difference we will make for you and your family.
Let me start with a very simple promise: I will never play fast and loose with your money. I worked as an economist at the Bank of England and in financial services before entering politics.
I know what it takes to run a successful economy.
I believe in sound money and public spending that is kept under control. I know how important it is that whoever is running the public finances has an iron grip on them because when they don’t – as we witnessed under Liz Truss – it is families that are forced to pick up the bill.
That is why my first step in government will be to deliver economic stability with tough spending rules so we can grow our economy and keep taxes, inflation and mortgages as low as possible. I do not believe you can tax and spend your way to growth, and I didn’t come into politics to raise taxes on working people.
Indeed, I want them to be lower. That is why I opposed the Conservatives when they tried to increase National Insurance and why I have supported them when they cut it with a plan to pay for it.
But the only way we can put more money in people’s pockets and fund our public services over the long-term is by growing the economy and backing Britain’s wealth creators.
Rachel Reeves speaks at the Backstage Centre in Purfleet on May 16
Ms Reeves attends the launch of the Labour party’s poster campaign during a visit to North Yorkshire on April 30
The Shadow Chancellor speaks to a market trader in Wakefield during a campaign event for local elections in April 2022
Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves speak as they travel by train to Sheffield to visit a steel plant
Economic growth only comes from businesses: big, medium and small. Government’s role is to give them the stability they need to invest and to remove the barriers to make it harder to do business. That’s the model to grow the economy I believe in – and it’s the only one that works.
That is why, if we are elected to power, I will lead the most pro-growth, pro-business Treasury in our history – with a laser focus on making working people better off.
A Labour government will invest alongside business through a new National Wealth Fund that will unlock more than £20 billion of business investment and create more than half a million new jobs in towns and cities across the United Kingdom.
We will support small businesses by replacing our outdated system of business rates with a fair system fit for a modern economy. And we will go further by guaranteeing to businesses that we will cap the headline rate of corporation tax for the next parliament and, should our competitiveness come under threat be prepared to cut it.
But I know from talking to businesses over the past three years that stability and investment are not enough to kick-start our economy. We need reform, too. That means a serious plan to get the long-term sick – who have been let down by ballooning hospital waiting lists, failing mental health support, an inflexible welfare state, and inadequate employment support – back to work.
If you can work, you should work – that’s why we’re called the Labour Party.
We will fix the barriers in the planning system that are holding back growth and the chance for people to own their own home. And we will give people more security at work through our new deal for working people, ending exploitative zero-hours contracts and fire and rehire.
A more secure and productive workforce is good for business and it’s good for workers.
That is our approach. That is our plan for the economy. A plan that is built on the rock of stability to end the chaos of the last 14 years, tackle the cost-of-living crisis and deliver on the priorities of the British people.
I understand why many of you would have voted Conservative in the past, but they have taken your vote for granted. All we have suffered over the past 14 years under the Conservatives is chaos and that is all they are offering again.
Rachel Reeves and Sir Keir Stamer wear protective gear to watch a stainless steel making process at Outokumpu Stainless Ltd in Sheffield
Rachel Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer attend an event to launch Labour’s election pledges at the Backstage Centre in Purfleet on May 16
Ms Reeves gives a keynote speech at the Labour Party conference at the Brighton Centre in September 2021
This will feel like a long campaign. There will be a lot of noise, lots of speeches and lots of arguments from all sides, with politicians desperately trying to get your attention. But the choice at the election is simple: five more years of chaos with the Conservatives, or stability with a changed Labour Party.
At this election, stability is change. Stability that means your family’s finances are protected. Stability that means we can get the investment we need to create jobs and build the infrastructure to rebuild our communities. And reform so we can make Britain a place businesses want to invest in again.
It’s a chance to turn the page on 14 years of chaos and write the next chapter in our country’s history – but only if Britain votes for change.