Ipswich Borough Council Leader: Councillor David Ellesmere
Ipswich Borough Council Leader: Councillor David Ellesmere

It’s hard to believe but the chaos unleashed by Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng has carried on for another week, completely wrecking the Conservative Party Conference.

In last week’s Conservative Cavalcade of Chaos we had:

• A screeching U-turn on the Government’s flagship policy of giving millionaires a huge tax cut by scrapping the 45p tax rate

• Liz Truss recording interviews defending the 45p tax cut which went out after she’d scrapped it

• The Prime Minister refusing to say she had confidence in the Chancellor of the Exchequer

• Complete confusion about whether the next financial statement will be brought forward

• All-out war in the Conservative Party over whether to break their promise to update benefits in line with inflation

• The pound falling yet again in response to Liz Truss’s conference speech

• Mortgage rates hitting a 14 year high

Things are now going wrong for the Government so quickly that there’s almost certainly been another disaster between me writing this column and it being published.

With Liz Truss’s reputation as one of the most incompetent Prime Ministers in British history now firmly assured it’s no surprise that the Conservatives are rock bottom in the opinion polls.

But if Labour is to win the next General Election it isn’t enough to just sit back and let the Conservatives implode. There must be a reason to vote positively for Labour and an assurance that there is a better future than under the Tories.

Thankfully, this year’s Labour Party Conference provide just that reassurance that Labour is ready to govern and deliver for Britain with a mission to create an economy that works for everyone and gives our country back its hope and future.

Ambitious but practical plans for growth were put forward that will benefit people everywhere, not just those at the top. Plans to make Britain energy independent, bring bills down, create a new generation of homeowners, and to skill up Britain’s workforce.

A Labour Government, instead of restarting fracking, will tackle the climate crisis and leave a better world for our children by making the UK the first major economy to have a zero-emission power system by 2030.

This will save us £93 billion off energy bills and make us energy independent, freeing the UK from being exposed to massive fluctuations in gas prices and take us out of hock to Vladimir Putin and other dodgy regimes.

It will reindustrialise the UK, supporting the creation of over 200,000 direct jobs and up to 300,000 indirect jobs over the coming decade. Real jobs, paying a decent wage.

As part of this Labour would also establish Great British Energy, a new home-grown company that will harness the power of Britain’s sun, wind, and waves to deliver good, secure, high-paid British jobs, cut energy bills and deliver energy independence for our country.

Many European countries already have public generating companies, like EDF in France and Vattenfall in Sweden. It’s how they have been able to keep the rise in their energy prices lower than in Britain. It is high time we had one of our own here.

By investing in sustainable power generation, we can cut domestic energy bills and allow the UK to profit from exporting our energy abroad.

The dream of owning your own home is slipping further and further away for too many after 12 years of the Conservatives, so I was pleased to see plans to widen home ownership by introducing a mortgage insurance scheme. This will help first-time buyers get mortgages without having to save eye-watering deposits or relying on gifts from wealthy family members.

Of course, making mortgages easier to get without increasing the supply of housing will just push house prices up so Labour would give first time buyers priority for new build housing and prevent entire developments being sold ‘off-plan’ to foreign and institutional investors before they’ve even been marketed.

These are solid, realistic plans that will grow the UK economy, make sure it works for everyone and leaves a future for our children.

Crucially – and we can all now appreciate why this is so important – Labour’s plans are well thought through and fully costed. They won’t scare the markets, won’t cause a run on the pound, and won’t cause borrowing costs to soar.

Quiet competence rather than complete chaos. Who knows – it might catch on?

 

 

 

 

 

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