Have faith!
Don’t let anyone tell you there’s no difference between Labour and the Tories! That Message was at the heart of Rachel Reeve’s speech to Labour conference.
Over and over again she repeated the phrase. Driving home the message that this government is a Labour government. A government for working class people.
It was a message that could be aimed at anyone doubting the government’s commitment to Labour values – outside or inside the party.
She ran through the government’s successes. The investments in infrastructure already made and those in the pipeline. Investments in the NHS, transport, education, energy, childcare, school meals, breakfast clubs, school libraries, communities and housing… investments that will create many thousands of jobs and will transform the lives of individuals, families and communities the length and breadth of Britain.
It was exhausting trying to keep up!
There had been five interest rate cuts since the election and mortgage rates had fallen in line with those cuts.
There were the trade deals too. Deals already done with the US, India and the EU and those being negotiated now. Plus inward investments worth tens of hundreds of billions of pounds from Norway and the US.
And there were the interventions worth billions to support businesses and jobs at British Steel and Jaguar Land Rover.
Would the Tories have done any of this? Of course not! They had 14 years and did none of it. Ideology, incompetence or both meant they would never do it.
There was a brief swipe at Farage – the biggest threat to British living standards. Farage who opposed the Employment Rights Act. Farage who wanted to privatise the NHS. Farage who wanted to isolate Britain from its trading partners. Farage who was not on the side of working people.
But that didn’t really seem the point. Rachel Reeve wanted to drive home the message that the government was a Labour government and WAS on the side of ordinary British people. It was working tirelessly to improve lives and deliver jobs, security, health and opportunity for all.
And Labour could only do these things because it was in power.
“I know there is much more to do and I promise you we will do it. But we should take pride in what we have achieved” she said.
She promised the biggest investment in social and affordable housing in a generation; she promised to end long term youth unemployment within the term of this government; she promised the biggest ever investment in transport in British cities.
So don’t let anyone tell you there is no difference between Labour and the Tories.
Despite all of this things were “still difficult”. The promise of economic stability was not just for the election. It was the basis of the government’s strategy for growth and prosperity.
She hit out at those who still believe the government could abandon sound economics in order to gain easy popularity, warning that they are dangerously wrong.
“I will never squander the economic trust that got us here” she promised, adding that this was not a trade off against Labour values.
It was about securing sustainable economic growth that would enable the government to renew the nation, improve living standards, create jobs and smash barriers to opportunity. It was about implementing Labour policies and Labour values.
“Have faith!….Have faith!….Have faith!” she urged. The clue was in the name. Labour is a party founded by working people, for working people and it would deliver a proud, prosperous and Labour Britain.
Adam Chadwick – 30/9/25