Rachel Reeves MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 4 Nov 2025 · Employer National Insurance Contributions: Business Impact · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is a strong champion for people in Hornsey and Wood Green, including small businesses. Last year at the Budget, we set out the principles in the consultation on business rates reform. Our principle is to make it easier for small businesses and high street businesses, while making sure that the online retail giants pay their fair share of tax. We will be setting out more information on our reformed business rate system to help our high streets and help our small businesses on 26 November.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Employer National Insurance Contributions: Business Impact · Hansard source

  More

  In the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, the number of people waiting more than 18 weeks for an appointment has also fallen. That is exactly what that money is being used for. He needs to be clear, and so do those on the Opposition Front Bench: if they want to reverse the increase to national insurance, they must also accept that there will be less money for our national health service. That is a choice, and it would be interesting to hear whether it is the Opposition’s choice.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Employer National Insurance Contributions: Business Impact · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the hon. Gentleman for that question. In his own constituency in the Isle of Wight, the six-monthly waiting list figures show that 5% fewer people are waiting for 18 weeks or longer. That is only possible because of the money we put into the NHS because of the tax changes we made. On retail sales and the impact on shops, retail sales have increased for the last four months in a row, with the most recent numbers for August and September outpacing expectations.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Economic Growth: Congleton · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend for her question. She is a proud supporter of everything in the Congleton constituency. This Government are committed to regional growth, with growth in all parts of the United Kingdom. That is why the Treasury has reformed the Green Book, looking at the value for money of different projects. It is also why, in Cheshire East, where my hon. Friend’s constituency is, we have put £47 million into local transport grant funding.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Economic Growth: Congleton · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend for drawing this issue to my attention. I agree that community projects such as solar panels are a fantastic opportunity to get down bills for schools so that they have more money to spend on teachers and on books. On my hon. Friend’s specific question about solar installations, there was a temporary pause in applications, but I am happy to confirm that the Department for Education has resumed approvals for solar panels on school sites. I would urge my hon. Friend to encourage the schools in her constituency to apply for the new projects in the normal way.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Government Debt Interest Payments · Hansard source

  More

  The only person that carpet bombed our economy was Liz Truss and the Conservative party. The hon. Gentleman supported Liz Truss in leadership contest and throughout her time—

• 9 Sept 2025 · Government Debt Interest Payments · Hansard source

  More

  I will not take any lectures from the SNP, which has put up taxes on ordinary working people in Scotland. The SNP Scottish Government had the biggest settlement since devolution in real terms at the spending review this year. That was only possible because of the tax changes that we made in the Budget. It is now up to the SNP Government to use that money wisely and to see waiting lists fall in Scotland in the way that they have in England and Wales. Waiting lists are still rising in Scotland—what does that say about their Government?

• 9 Sept 2025 · Government Debt Interest Payments · Hansard source

  More

  Let me just check—oh yeah, it went through the roof! At the same time that our debt levels went up, we have seen our public services—whether that is our schools, our hospitals, our transport or our infrastructure—on their knees. The Conservative Government managed to destroy our public finances, our economy and our public services. What an achievement. That is why there are only 120 of them and they are sitting on the Opposition Benches—and they will be there for a long time to come.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Government Debt Interest Payments · Hansard source

  More

  The spread on our gilts over the central bank rate is lower in the UK than it is in Greece, so maybe the right hon. Gentleman should look again at his evidence. The truth is that we have had five cuts in interest rates since this Government came to office. We are paying high levels of interest on the debt, but the debt was accrued by the Conservative party, which destroyed our economy and public services all at once. We are fixing the mess that the Conservatives left.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Government Debt Interest Payments · Hansard source

  More

  I very much agree with my hon. Friend. That is why we published the spending review earlier this year. The review set out plans for day-to-day spending for the next three years and capital spending for the next five. Everything in the review is fully funded and fully costed through the difficult decisions that we had to make in the Budget last year to increase taxes. At the same time, the deficit is expected to fall by 1 percentage point of GDP this year.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Government Debt Interest Payments · Hansard source

  More

  The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that debt is going to fall during the course of this Parliament—something that never happened under the Conservative Government—and that the deficit as a share of GDP will fall by 1 percentage point this year. This is a Government who have a grip on the public finances and on public spending, because of the choices that we made. All those choices were opposed by all the Opposition parties.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Government Debt Interest Payments · Hansard source

  More

  We are investing in Britain’s future and putting in place the plans needed to get Britain building again after 14 years of Tory failure. Since the election, we have had five interest rate cuts, wages have risen more in the first 10 months of this Labour Government than they did in the first 10 years of the previous Conservative Government, and we are the fastest growing economy in the G7 in the first half of this year.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Government Debt Interest Payments · Hansard source

  More

  The best way to make sure that we continue to have confidence in the gilt markets is to keep the Tories and Liz Truss as far away from running the economy as possible. We have brought stability back to the economy, and there have been five cuts in interest rates. This is in sharp contrast to the disaster of Liz Truss and the clown show that we witnessed at the Reform conference at the weekend. Those two parties would lose control of spending, and push up mortgage costs and inflation. They have done it before, and they would do it all over again.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Government Debt Interest Payments · Hansard source

  More

  He says he did not, but he served in her Cabinet, so I will take no lectures from Conservative Members. The country will have heard what the Leader of the Opposition said today: she was talking down our economy in a desperate attempt to get attention. The truth is, as Members on the Opposition Benches know, that that is not serious and it is irresponsible. The only thing in Britain that needs a bail-out is the Tory party—from its failed leadership.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Infrastructure Strategy: Economic Growth · Hansard source

  More

  The Government are currently consulting on a landfill tax. It is a consultation, and it is open for comments from right across industry, but this Government are investing in infrastructure. Compared with the plans that we inherited, which would have seen capital investment fall as a share of GDP, we are instead putting an additional £120 billion in, as well as £70 billion through the National Wealth Fund. Crucially, that is leveraging in private sector investment in transport infrastructure, including roads, railways and airports, and digital infrastructure. We are growing the economy—a far cry from what the Conservatives did in their 14 wasted years.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Infrastructure Strategy: Economic Growth · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend has been a good advocate for his constituents. He and I, as well as the Labour Mayor Kim McGuinness, know that investing in roads, cycleways and the metro will make a real and practical difference. This builds on the £0.6 billion that the north-east is receiving through the city region sustainable transport settlement, of which £23 million has been earmarked for Durham. Of course, my hon. Friend’s constituents will also benefit from the wider economic benefits of extending the Tyne and Wear metro, linking Washington with Newcastle and Sunderland.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Infrastructure Strategy: Economic Growth · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question relating to his constituency. It is a shame that the Conservative party did not invest in extending those platforms when it was in power for 14 years. I am very happy to discuss with my colleagues at the Department for Transport how the his constituents can benefit from the extra £120 billion that this Government are putting into capital investment.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Infrastructure Strategy: Economic Growth · Hansard source

  More

  This Government back a third runway at Heathrow. We are a country that is open to global trade and investment—we have done three trade deals with countries around the world and have secured £120 billion of inward investment. Heathrow Airport Ltd and others have now put forward a bid to build the third runway, and have been very clear that they will be investing in the infrastructure to make that possible. I welcome investment into Britain, and I hope that parties all across the House will do the same.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Infrastructure Strategy: Economic Growth · Hansard source

  More

  I have huge respect for the hon. Gentleman, and no one in this House would want to do anything to upset Mr Speaker. I am very happy to look at investment opportunities in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency and right across Lancashire, including just up the coast in Blackpool, where we put in significant investment at the spending review earlier this year to build the housing and infrastructure our country desperately needs.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Infrastructure Strategy: Economic Growth · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is a great champion for the people of West Dunbartonshire, and I know he is working very closely with the Ministry of Defence at the moment to secure defence investment in his constituency. During the summer, I had the opportunity to spend some time in Scotland, seeing the results of our infrastructure investments—in the defence sector, carbon capture and storage in Aberdeenshire, transport investment in Glasgow, the supercomputer, and RAF Lossiemouth—and how the trade deals are benefiting industries in Scotland, including Scotch whisky.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Infrastructure Strategy: Economic Growth · Hansard source

  More

  Before I start, I quickly welcome my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Northampton North (Lucy Rigby) and my hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet (Dan Tomlinson) to the team. I also congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing North (James Murray) on his new position as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. In response to the questions, I want to be clear that the 10-year national infrastructure strategy is core to delivering this Government’s growth mission to boost living standards. The strategy will fund at least £725 billion of infrastructure over the next decade and transform how projects are planned and delivered, so that we do not have the cost and time overruns that we became so used to under the Conservatives.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Infrastructure Strategy: Economic Growth · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is a proud champion of the people of Altrincham and Sale West. Investment through the transport for city regions fund will allow the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, to invest in local priorities, creating jobs, better commutes, bigger labour markets and more opportunity across Greater Manchester. That includes investment in the fully electric Bee Network with zero-emission public transport by 2030, including the purchase of 1,000 new electric buses made in Rochdale, Northern Ireland and Scotland. That is in sharp contrast with the SNP Government, who buy their buses from China.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  In the Budget last year, we got rid of the non-dom tax status, we put up capital gains tax, we started treating carried interest as income—not as capital gains—we introduced new taxes on private jets, we put VAT and business rates on private school fees and, of course, we changed the rules around agricultural property relief so that people who have farms worth more than £3 million will pay inheritance tax, although at half the rate that everybody else does. We took a number of measures last year to ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share. Some countries around the world do have a wealth tax, but countries like Switzerland, for example, do not have inheritance tax. I think it would be a mistake to get rid of inheritance tax and replace it with an unproven tax without knowing what revenue it would bring in.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  Sorry, Mr Speaker, bear with me. [ Laughter. ] This Government are committed to growing the economy, and we were the fastest-growing economy in the G7 in the first half of this year. We have done three trade deals and cut interest rates five times—and I did not even need my notes to remember all that.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  There is a consultation going on and I welcome the hon. Gentleman and others feeding into that. However, if he is serious about backing the builders and not the blockers, why do the Liberal Democrats fail to support the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, both here and in the other House?