The year is 2025. Out steps Chancellor Rachel Reeves through the famous door of Number 11 Downing Street \u2013 Budget box held proudly aloft \u2013 and her trusty team of Labour advisors celebrating the dawn of a new fiscal era. If the current polls are to be believed, it very much could happen.<\/p>\n
The former Bank of England economist has enjoyed an impressive road to stardom having been appointed Shadow Chancellor in 2021 following a variety of shadow ministerial posts under Ed Miliband. PPE at Oxford was followd by a successful banking career, and Reeves now stands on the cusp of becoming the UK\u2019s first ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no doubt that under the leadership of Keir Starmer, Labour\u2019s approach to tax and spend has very much deviated from the radical approaches championed by his immediate predecessor. Both Reeves and Starmer have stressed the fiscal limitations which will constrain any future Labour government spending, while in opposition, Reeves\u2019 iron grip in ensuring all policy announcements are fully costed has helped rebuild Labour\u2019s position as a credible government in waiting, whilst also taking the wind out of the sails of the Conservative\u2019s \u201cparty of business\u201d moniker.<\/p>\n
Under Reeves, Labour have embarked on two core economic missions. The first \u2013 and by far most challenging \u2013 securing the trust of the British public over control of the public purse. It\u2019s no coincidence that Lisa Nandy, Wes Streeting and other big hitters within the Shadow Cabinet have been unable to unleash bold, expensive policy announcements in their media interviews \u2013 the hand of Reeves hovering over their shoulder and the message discipline of fiscal competence running through every vein of Labour policy making. Reeves has learnt the lesson which has scuppered many a Shadow Chancellor \u2013 that economic power can only be gained through public trust. And public trust can only be gained through disciplined spending promises.<\/p>\n
The second core economic mission which Reeves has sought to drive in partnership with the party Leader is to position Labour\u2019s fiscal priorities around those of the country. Borrowing to fund sustainable infrastructure projects, greater investment in the NHS and reforming the education system are all policy priorities which chime with the party\u2019s core audience \u2013 the centre ground. The party hasn\u2019t sought to tie itself in fiscal knots over issues about which it knows the electorate is not concerned \u2013 but has married spending priorities with the public consciousness \u2013 an approach which Reeves believes will result in electoral success.<\/p>\n
Packaging Labour\u2019s economic message into a simple, digestible, and \u2013 critically \u2013 electable summary however has been Reeves\u2019 Achilles heel. While some may describe her economic position as closely aligned to the New Labour project, Starmer and Reeves have struggled to define their fiscal strategy in quite the same way. Reeves has unveiled that Labour\u2019s economic policy will be branded under the umbrella term \u201csecuronomics\u201d, focusing on economic security and the resilience of industry in an uncertain global economy. \u201cIt shows how an active, strategic, state will work in harmony with vibrant and open markets<\/em>\u201d said Reeves in Washington last month, yet for Labour it will be concerning that a rebrand of its economic strategy received limited coverage in the broadsheets, with many journalist being more interested in the Shadow Chancellor\u2019s decision to fly in business class rather than economy.<\/p>\n For securonomics to work, Reeves understands that winning the war on the domestic battlefield is only part of the solution. The trip to Washington to meet with counterparts in the US has underpinned the Shadow Chancellor\u2019s belief that garnering the support of international advocates is essential to persuading the UK electorate that she and Keir Starmer have the credibility for leadership \u2013 and that one time worries of capital flight and a crumbling pound under Labour are no longer rooted in political reality.<\/p>\n Yet what of Reeves\u2019 personal appeal? Disappointingly for the Shadow Chancellor, her public popularity has struggled to take off in the way she may have hoped. Current YouGov projections place both her and Jeremy Hunt at 18% on \u201cwho would make the best Chancellor\u201d with an enormous 65% of the sample unsure about their preferred choice. It may be unrealistic to expect Reeves to be as embedded in the public psyche as Gordon Brown was in 1997, but to be level pegging with a Chancellor who became infamous for fighting junior doctors, losing a Conservative leadership contest and needed his political life salvaged by Liz Truss, will be a bitter pill to swallow.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Rachel Reeves will be desperate to ensure Labour is not just the party of workers, but the party of enterprise. Partnering with private investors and building bridges with the City have been central to the Shadow Chancellor\u2019s approach \u2013 recent roundtables with senior business leaders have not happened by accident. Business must feel a new sense of confidence engaging with Labour under the fiscal stewardship of Reeves \u2013 commercial objectives and Labour policy now working in harmony to deliver outcomes, no longer the polarising forces they once were.<\/p>\n If you want to hear more about Labour\u2019s economic policies and what they will mean for your business, please get in touch with our Corporate Affairs Team. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The year is 2025. Out steps Chancellor Rachel Reeves through the famous door of Number 11 Downing Street \u2013 Budget box held proudly aloft \u2013 and her trusty team of Labour advisors celebrating the dawn of a new fiscal era. If the current polls are to be believed, it very much could happen. The former…","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":46168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[361],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government-relations","Sector-government-relations-and-public-affairs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n