The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Reeves dismisses Tory ‘gaslighting’ over UK economy
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Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has dismissed claims the UK is heading for a hung parliament and accused the Tories of “gaslighting” the public.
In a speech in the City of London yesterday, Ms Reeves said Labour would fight the general election on the economy and would use every day to “expose what the Conservatives have done to our country”.
She said: “Instead of believing the Prime Minister’s claims that we’ve turned a corner, the questions people will ask ahead of the next election are simple: Do you and your family feel better off than you did after 14 years of Conservative government? Do our schools, our hospitals, our police, our transport work better than they did 14 years ago?”
Asked about claims that local election results south of the border pointed to a hung parliament,
Ms Reeves said Labour was “fighting for every single vote” and had won in places it needed to if it is to form the next government.
She said: “I don’t think the results last week point to a hung parliament.”
The local elections brought a string of victories for Labour, including in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s own region of York and North Yorkshire and the key mayoral contest in the West Midlands.
The Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates at 5.25% tomorrow, despite political pressure from the Government to cut rates before polling day.
And figures from the Office for National Statistics due on Friday are expected to show the UK has exited recession.
Acknowledging that inflation could return to its 2% target, interest rates could be cut and Britain could be out of recession as early as this month, Ms Reeves said: “I already know what the Chancellor will say in response to one or all of these events happening. He has been saying it for months now: ‘The economy is turning a corner’, ‘our plan is working’, ‘stick with us’.
“I want to take those arguments head on because they do not speak to the economic reality.”
She added: “During the local elections I travelled across the country. I spoke to hundreds of people. I listened to their stories.
“And when they hear Government ministers telling them that they have never had it so good, that they should look out for the ‘feelgood factor’, all they hear is a government that is deluded and completely out of touch with the realities on the ground.
“The Conservatives are gaslighting the British public.”
Ms Reeves reiterated her party’s commitment to legislate on a “new deal for working people” within the first 100 days of taking power, but said businesses had “nothing to fear”.
She said: “The truth is that many, many businesses already go well beyond what is set out in the new deal for working people – they don’t have zero-hour contracts, they are not using practices of fire and rehire, they give better rights around sick pay.
“So businesses have got nothing to fear from the new deal for working people, but (for) businesses who do use these methods there will be a level playing field.”
Tory chairman Richard Holden accused Ms Reeves of “hero-worshipping” former chancellor and prime minister Gordon Brown and said: “Labour have no plan and would take us back to square one with higher taxes, higher unemployment, an illegal amnesty on immigration and a plot to betray pensioners, just like Gordon Brown did.”