The era of reckless Tory economics is over. As your chancellor, I would make every penny count
After 14 years of Conservative government, in three weeks the British public will have the chance to vote for
change.
On Tuesday, the Conservatives published their general election manifesto. Just a few hours after its publication, Labour identified an estimated £71bn of unfunded commitments. It is a reckless and dishonest offer.
We’ve been here before. It is less than two years since the Conservatives’ mini-budget. In 2022, their wild wishlist of uncosted tax cuts crashed the economy, sent mortgage costs soaring and put pensions in peril.
Now, they are once again making lavish, unfunded promises. I started my career as an economist at the Bank of England, and I can tell you exactly where this would lead. Labour analysis shows that the money is not there: going ahead with these plans would risk pushing up interest rates and and could risk adding up to £4,800 to the average mortgage over the next parliament.
It takes some gall for the party that raised the tax burden to its highest level in 70 years to pose as the party of low taxes. They talk about cutting taxes, but their record is of raising them.
When the Labour manifesto is published today, you will see something very different: a fully costed, fully funded plan to change Britain for the better.
If I am the chancellor of the exchequer after 4 July, my central priority will be to revive economic growth. The reason we are a high-tax economy today, even while our schools, hospitals and police struggle, is because we have been a low-growth economy for 14 years.
When we talk about growth, we are not just talking about lines on a graph. It’s about money in the pockets of working people, security in retirement, thriving high streets, and the tax revenues to rebuild strong public services.
The mandate we are asking for is to restore economic growth – and doing what it takes to achieve that. Our manifesto contains a detailed plan for growth based on three things: stability, investment and reform.
First, stability is the rock upon which everything else will be built. Stability means families being able to plan ahead and businesses being able to