Rachel Reeves MP: speeches

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Speeches

20 May 2025 · Spending Review: Economic Growth · Hansard source
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I was very pleased that the Scottish salmon association welcomed the trade deal that we secured with the EU yesterday. Some 70% of the fish that is caught in UK waters is sold into European markets. That will now benefit from the sanitary and phytosanitary deal that we have secured within that deal. We have rolled over the deal that the previous Government secured, giving certainty to fishermen in Scotland and across the UK. We have made it easier for them to export into European markets. We have ensured that we can sell shellfish again into European markets, and we announced yesterday the £360 million package of measures to support coastal and fishing industries. The Scottish National party is now in an absurd situation where it supports Reform and the Tories in opposing the deal with the EU.
20 May 2025 · Spending Review: Economic Growth · Hansard source
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I know that my hon. Friend is working closely with the local Labour council in Southport to regenerate the local town centre, and we will make sure that this Government back him every step of the way.
20 May 2025 · Spending Review: Economic Growth · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury is working closely with businesses right across the energy sector. The previous Government increased the rate of tax on energy companies to 75%, and we increased it by three percentage points to 78%, reflecting the fact that energy companies have enjoyed huge profits since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. When people’s bills have gone up, it is right that we ask the energy companies making those profits to contribute a little more.
20 May 2025 · Spending Review: Economic Growth · Hansard source
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From the next financial year, this Government will introduce permanently lower rates for high street, retail, hospitality and leisure properties with rateable values below £500,000, and we are doing that exactly to support the sort of businesses that my hon. Friend champions.
20 May 2025 · Spending Review: Economic Growth · Hansard source
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I absolutely agree, and that is why we have reversed the Conservatives’ decisions to cut capital spending. Instead, we are preserving that capital investment, which means spending £113 billion more on road, rail, energy, homes and digital infrastructure than would have been spent in the plans we inherited. We are also spending on day-to-day things, such as making sure that we have police on our streets, and working with our mayors, including Mayor Steve Rotheram, to ensure we get investment into the places that most need it.
20 May 2025 · Spending Review: Economic Growth · Hansard source
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I thought the hon. Gentleman was going to welcome the investment of Universal Studios in Bedfordshire, which will be a massive boon to the county’s economy. On supporting the adoption of AI, we are doing two key things. First, we are supporting that sector investing in the UK, and the deal we secured with the US will help bring more investment into our digital sector. Secondly, and crucially, we are improving the productivity of our public services. The hon. Gentleman will see more about that when we publish the spending review on 11 June. We are absolutely determined to boost productivity in the public sector, after the mess in which it was left by the Conservatives.
20 May 2025 · Spending Review: Economic Growth · Hansard source
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At the Budget, we more than doubled the employment allowance to £10,500 to take many small businesses out of paying national insurance altogether. On corporation tax, we have maintained the small profits rate to help smaller businesses, and to help entrepreneurs raise finance and grow, the Government have extended the enterprise investment scheme and the venture capital trust scheme. I very much add my words of support to businesses across Ilford, and I commend the work my hon. Friend does to champion them.
20 May 2025 · Spending Review: Economic Growth · Hansard source
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That is an opportune question, because I will be meeting Lord Vallance this afternoon to discuss the work he is taking forward on the Ox-Cam corridor to bring more good jobs, paying good wages, not only to Oxford and Cambridge, but, crucially, to the towns and cities in between. Some of the extra money we are putting into capital investment will absolutely be going to support the huge growth opportunities in that part of the world.
20 May 2025 · Northern Towns: Funding · Hansard source
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The Green Book reforms will ensure that we properly assess the benefits of investments in different parts of the UK, but the people of Cumbria and the lakes will benefit from the record investment in the NHS, the roll-out of nurseries and free breakfast clubs at primary schools, as well as the increase in the national living wage, from which many workers in sectors such as hospitality and retail in the hon. Member’s constituency will directly benefit.
20 May 2025 · Northern Towns: Funding · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend is a proud champion of the towns and villages of Rossendale and Darwen. We will make sure that we use our Green Book review to properly assess the benefit of all this Government’s investments. On top of that capital investment, the people of Rossendale and Darwen are benefiting from the 3 million additional appointments that we have delivered, which have led to reductions in NHS waiting lists, and also the increase in the national living wage, which will make working people in his constituency and across the country better off.
20 May 2025 · Northern Towns: Funding · Hansard source
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I was pleased to go with my hon. Friend to Darwen to visit the 100th banking hub, which was rolled out just a few months ago. We also visited the thriving Darwen market in one of his local towns. We will set out at the spending review how we will spend the £113 billion extra that we are putting in to capital spending, compared with the plans we inherited from the Conservatives. Of course, we will ensure that towns and cities, including across the north of England, benefit from that investment.
20 May 2025 · Northern Towns: Funding · Hansard source
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I shall make sure that the Transport Secretary hears those requests, but the hon. Gentleman knows that our investment in British Steel, which will save that company, is set to increase the number of jobs there. That will make a massive difference to his constituents, as will the investment in renewable energy in the North sea, particularly around Immingham, creating good jobs and paying decent wages in his constituency and in many others, too.
20 May 2025 · Northern Towns: Funding · Hansard source
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This Government have committed to increasing the proportion of civil servants who work in the north of England. But we already have a hub that we are expanding in Darlington, where eight Departments work, including officials from the Treasury. The Treasury is very mindful of the importance of investing right across the north of England—in Darlington, Leeds, Cumbria, Rossendale and Darwen and many other constituencies beside.
20 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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At the Budget last year, we increased the rate of tax on non-doms, we increased capital gains tax, we increased the carried interest on bonuses and we introduced VAT on private schools. This Government are ensuring that the wealthiest pay their fair share, because that is a basic Labour principle.
20 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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Yesterday we announced £360 million of investment in coastal and fishing communities. That will be vital to ensure that those communities continue to thrive.
20 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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I want to welcome tourists to Great Britain and Northern Ireland. That is why we are securing trade deals with countries around the world, showing that we as a country are open for business. In the end, it is up to the Scottish Government which additional taxes they introduce, but as with income tax, the SNP never takes the side of ordinary working people.
20 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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We have secured an agreement with the biggest pension companies to invest on a voluntary basis in UK unlisted equities and infrastructure, which is something the Conservatives never achieved. We are getting investment into British infrastructure and British businesses because that is the way to grow the economy and support working people.
20 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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I very much agree, but what is truly extraordinary is that the Conservatives, Reform and the Scottish National party have voted against or abstained on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, and they do not support any of the trade deals that we have secured to support working people in our country.
20 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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The only reason that we have been able to grow the economy and get those cuts in interest rates, which help working families in Canterbury and right across our country, is because we have returned stability to our economy. That means never making a policy commitment without being able to say where the money comes from, which is what got our country into a mess under the previous Government. We have set out the policies that we needed to put investment into the NHS and secure our public finances.
20 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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The Conservative party is a good example of that. The cost of the Conservative party went up, and its number of MPs shrank.
20 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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In our manifesto, we set out that we would not increase taxes on working people—that is, the income tax, national insurance or VAT that they pay. That is why we also reversed the previous Government’s decision to increase fuel duty, which would have had a disastrous effect on working people in our country. We will set out all other tax policy at the Budget.
20 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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As my hon. Friend knows, sometimes the UK carbon price has been higher, but sometimes it has been lower than in the EU. This deal will ensure a bigger market that, on average, brings prices down. We are confident that the deal secured yesterday will bring more good jobs and bring down bills for consumers.
20 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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This Government are securing economic growth. Last week, the numbers published showed that the economy grew by 0.7% in the first quarter of this year, including an 8% increase year on year in investment spending. We are now the fastest-growing economy in the G7. Since the general election, there have been four cuts in interest rates, 200,000 jobs created and three trade deals secured. Britain’s economy is stronger, but I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure that working people are better off.
20 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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As the hon. Lady knows, when I became Chancellor last year, we inherited a £22 billion black hole in the public finances—not in some year in the future, but in the financial year that we were already three or four months into. This meant that we had to make difficult and urgent decisions to put our public finances back on a firm footing—because, unlike the Conservatives, I will never play fast and loose with the public finances.
20 May 2025 · Economic Growth: South Yorkshire and Derby · Hansard source
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Kick-starting economic growth is this Government’s No. 1 mission. From the next financial year, South Yorkshire combined authority will receive a single flexible funding pot through its integrated settlement, and the East Midlands combined authority will benefit from a new advanced manufacturing and logistics park, unlocking up to £1 billion of investment. Both areas will benefit from £240 million of investment towards trailblazers to tackle economic inactivity.

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