Rachel Reeves has today vowed to wage a war on government waste as part of her commitment to spend taxpayers’ money responsibly and avoid another HS2 fiasco.
Speaking at the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool, Reeves accused the Conservative Party of raising taxes twenty-five times “while allowing the wealthy to avoid taxes, keeping loopholes open and letting government waste spiral.”
In response to the Conservatives’ chaotic handling of HS2, she pledged that an incoming Labour government would grip the speed and cost of major infrastructure projects by setting up a new, central cross-departmental infrastructure acceleration unit.
The unit would be responsible for ensuring crucial national infrastructure projects are delivered on time and on budget – and report directly to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor.
Reeves also announced that she had tasked Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, with conducting a review of how a future Labour government can deliver major projects more effectively, on time and on budget.
“I will not tolerate taxpayers’ money being treated with the disrespect we have seen over recent years. I will not turn a blind eye to dither, delay and incompetence. I will hold those responsible to account. And I will demand action when they are not delivering value for money,” she said.
Clampdown on Tory waste
In her speech, the Shadow Chancellor announced an estimated £4 billion clampdown on government waste, by:
- Reinstating sign-off procedures on procuring consultants, with a target to reduce spending by half – or £1.4 billion – over the next parliament, retaining valuable external expertise where it is needed and getting departments to plan ahead for what skills will be needed over the next decade.
- Stopping taxpayers’ money being wasted on unnecessary ministerial private jets by instructing officials to enforce the ministerial code’s rules around when it is appropriate to take a non-scheduled flight.
- Appointing a ‘Covid Corruption Commissioner’ to examine COVID contracts line-by-line, with powers to bring together and, drawing on existing budgets, instruct agencies to pursue and recover money lost to fraud, waste and non-delivery during the pandemic. Estimates suggest that up to £2.6 billion of taxpayer money lost to fraud could still be recovered.
Rachel Reeves, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, said: “I didn’t come into politics to raise taxes on working people. Indeed, I want them to be lower.
“But the Tories have piled twenty-five tax rises on the shoulders of working people and businesses, while allowing the wealthiest to avoid taxes, keeping loopholes open, and letting government waste spiral.
“Taxpayers’ money should be spent with the same care with which we spend our own money. I remember my mum would sit at the kitchen table, checking her receipts against her bank statements. We weren’t badly off, but we didn’t have money to spare. With my mum every penny mattered.
“I learned that same lesson at the Bank of England responsibility must always come first. But for too long, Tory governments have allowed money to be wasted and taxpayers defrauded.”
“So Labour will wage a war against fraud, waste and inefficiency.”
On the cancelling of HS2, she said: “Just look at the fate of HS2. A major transport project lost, another promise broken because the government could not keep costs under control.
“By the time the government even recognised they had a problem, the project was already £30 billion over budget. The question must be: How was it ever allowed to get to that point?
“If I were in the Treasury, I would have been on the phone to the Chief Executive of HS2 non-stop. Demanding answers – and solutions – on behalf of taxpayers, businesses, and commuters.
She added: “It is incumbent on government to make sure major projects are delivered on time and on budget. I will not tolerate taxpayers’ money being treated with the disrespect we have seen over recent years. I will not turn a blind eye to dither, delay and incompetence. I will hold those responsible to account. And I will demand action when they are not delivering value for money.”
Responding to Ms Reeves’s conference speech, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, said: “It is extraordinary that Rachel Reeves failed to mention inflation once when it is the biggest challenge facing the British economy.
“Instead, Reeves made it clear Labour will take ‘up’ borrowing by £28billion every year which is a fairy-tale for the British economy with no happy ending – just higher inflation, higher mortgages, higher debt and lower growth.
“Borrowing more doesn’t solve problems, it creates them – the worst kind of short-termism when instead we should be taking long-term decisions that will actually tackle inflation and unleash growth.”