Rachel Reeves on Labour’s plans for Britain’s finances

By Rachel Reeves

As many writers for this publication will know, accurately predicting what is going to happen in the next 12 months is a fool’s game. During the two and half years I have been shadow chancellor we have had the fallout from a global pandemic, a war in Europe following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, a global energy crisis and central banks across the world having to respond to sharp rises in inflation. And, at the time of writing, Hamas has launched a terrorist attack against the state of Israel and triggered the most dangerous conflict in the region for decades.

There has been uncertainty at home as well as on the global stage. Over the past 13 years Britain has had five prime ministers, seven chancellors of the exchequer, four general elections, a vote to leave the European Union and Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget. Insecurity has become the watchword for British politics—and that insecurity has come at a price.