Rachel Reeves’ growth speech “proposes the wrong solutions in the wrong timeframes” and will fail following her tax-hiking budget, Reform UK’s Richard Tice has said.
The Chancellor’s Oxford address is undermined by her decision to raise £40bn worth of taxes, including National Insurance, and the Government’s green agenda, Mr Tice told Daily Express.
“You cannot grow the economy on the back of the blunder budget that has raised taxes and increased regulation under the yoke of Net Zero”, the Reform UK deputy leader said.
“We need a radical reversal”.
Ms Reeves announced a slate of growth measures designed to “kickstart” the British economy.
Airport expansion was a major theme of her speech, and she broke with Labour London Mayor Sadiq Khan over the construction of a third runway at Heathrow.
The plans received parliamentary approval in June 2018, but the airport would need to apply for a Development Consent Order to go ahead with the project.
There is no timeline for when a third runway would open, but it is likely to be well into the 2030s.
Mention was made of plans for development at Gatwick Airport and Luton Aiport.
Another major announcement was that Manchester United’s famous Old Trafford stadium will receive Government support for redevelopment.
The iconic ground has fallen into disrepair over recent years and the club is keen to increase its capacity to 87,000, up from 74,000, or build a new 100,000-seater stadium.
The Lewisham-born Chancellor also announced her intention to improve rail links between Oxford and Cambridge.
She added that backing for housing, transport and other investment in the Oxford-Cambridge corridor could help it become “Europe’s Silicon Valley” and add £78 billion to the UK’s economy by 2035.
“For too long, we have accepted low expectations, accepted stagnation and accepted the risk of decline. We can do so much better”, the Chancellor said speaking from a Siemens facility.
“Low growth is not our destiny. But growth will not come without a fight. Without a Government that is on the side of working people. Willing to take the right decisions now to change our country’s course for the better”, she added.
“That’s what our Plan for Change is about. That is what drives me as Chancellor. And it is what I’m determined to deliver.”
