By Jessica Frank-Keyes
Labour are gunning for the ‘party of business’ crown as Rachel Reeves prepares to unveil a string of policies on planning, building and investment in a bid to woo the private sector.
Speaking at Labour conference in Liverpool, the shadow Chancellor will pledge to speed up the race to get critical infrastructure built, drive growth, create jobs and bolster investment.
It comes as a Savanta poll for the New Statesman revealed 45 per cent of business leaders now rate the party as best for business, compared to just 32 per cent for the Tories.
Reeves will claim “the single biggest obstacle to building infrastructure, to investment and to growth in this country is the Conservative Party”.
She will commit Labour to “once-in-a-generation” reforms to fast-track life sciences, 5G and battery factory projects, while tackling planning red tape and benefiting local residents.
Policies include turbocharging critical infrastructure planning within the first six months of a Labour government; fast-tracking priority economic growth areas; offering community incentives such as cheaper energy bills; and hiring 300 new planning officers.
The shadow chancellor will also vow to restore business investment as a share of GDP to the level it was under the last Labour government. Labour says this would mean an extra £50bn a year in the UK economy by 2030, or £1,700 per household.
It comes as Labour argues that it is now the “undisputed party of business”, with shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds addressing a sold-out business day breakfast with CEOs including from Shell, IKEA, Citi, Southern Water, Siemens and Lloyds of London.
Reynolds, who also spoke at the party’s first ever SME Sunday event, said: “While the Conservatives have crashed the economy… Labour is outlining our serious plans for growth, sorting out the problems holding British business back.”
Business day was oversubscribed, party officials said, with its largest-ever gathering needing to double capacity, leaving hundreds still on the waiting list for seats.
Lobby groups backed Reeves’s plans, with BusinessLDN boss John Dickie saying planning reform was key for the capital to “drive long-term, sustainable growth”.
While Shevaun Haviland, British Chamber of Commerce director general, said she was pleased to see measures the organisation had called for being heard by Labour.
“Long-term investment in infrastructure is a key ingredient to get our economy back to growth,” she said.
Haviland also called for a “five-year period of certainty for full expensing”.
Separately, Labour also announced plans on Sunday to unlock £200bn of private investment to ‘rewire Britain’ and power up businesses’ connections to the National Grid, by creating a super-tender to procure the grid supply chain, rocketing Britain to the front of the global line.
