Chancellor’s enthusiasm ‘has never burned brighter’ – but will her plans finally boost growth?

Published

10 months ago

January 26, 2025

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The chancellor spent most of her first six months issuing dire warnings about the calamitous state of the public finances she inherited.

But now, in a dramatic change of tone, Rachel Reeves is celebrating the UK’s economic possibilities.

Inspired by Donald Trump’s economic boosterism, and despite the UK’s flatlining growth figures, she told Trevor Phillips she’s spent the past few days in Davos “shouting on the world stage about everything our great country has to offer”.

“My enthusiasm and excitement… has never burned brighter.”

But this optimistic message isn’t just part of a new international sales pitch, a riposte to critics who believe the chancellor damaged investor confidence in the UK with her gloomy previous prognosis.

Instead, it’s part of the government’s drive to reconnect with businesses bruised by her tax-raising budget – an attempt to demonstrate that economic growth genuinely is its number one priority – at the expense, perhaps, of all else.

Of course, the chancellor argues that growth is needed to deliver the level of public services voters expect from a Labour government – without rapid improvements to the public finances, departments are likely to face austerity-level cuts.

Now we’re finally getting more detail on the practical strategy to deliver the growth that has proved so elusive for successive governments in recent years – but many of the measures involved are highly controversial.

From reducing planning hurdles to demanding regulators strip out red tape, in some ways, the Labour government is now seeking to enact many of the policies promised by Liz Truss.

Asked about the comparison by Trevor Phillips this morning, Ms Reeves didn’t deny the similarity, arguing only that “we’re doing practical things to get that growth, not just talking about it”.

On Wednesday in a big speech on growth, we’ll hear more about these practical steps.

The biggest expected announcement is about the long-awaited expansion of Heathrow Airport, as well as plans for Gatwick and Luton.

As a symbol of going for growth above all else, it couldn’t get much bigger, but the reason the project has failed to get off the ground is that so many people object to it so passionately – for a wide range of reasons, from concern over emissions and our net zero commitments to noise pollution.

Ms Reeves told Trevor Philips today the decision would be taken with “collective ministerial responsibility”.

That may be easier said than done.

Previously, many members of the cabinet, including Sir Keir Starmer, Environment Secretary Steve Reed and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband voted against expanding the west London airport.

Supporting the plans will surely be uncomfortable for many on the Labour benches, especially with the Mayor of London so implacably opposed.

Asked this week if he’d consider resigning over it, though, Mr Miliband responded: “Don’t be ridiculous, no.”

Perhaps the clearest indication of the government’s economic focus comes with the chancellor’s willingness to discuss the possibility of joining a European customs grouping, the Pan Euro Mediterranean Convention.

“We are absolutely happy to look at these proposals,” she told Trevor Phillips – quite a contrast to the non-committal answers given by other ministers earlier this week.

The Conservatives are predictably up in arms, with Andrew Griffiths, the shadow business secretary, quick to ring the Brexit alarm bell.

“We must avoid undoing Brexit by the back door by aligning with the EU’s low growth model,” he said.

While the prime minister has long promised a “reset” in relations with the EU, any hint of backpedalling on Brexit is so politically sensitive that discussion about moving towards a closer economic relationship is always muted.

The fact Ms Reeves is even looking into this is perhaps, more than anything, a sign of their desire to show they’re willing to consider all options.

But as with the airports, it’s likely to be a very long time before any of these pro-growth intentions have a practical impact on GDP.

Politics

All four UK governments ‘failed to appreciate’ scale of COVID pandemic threat – inquiry finds

Published

2 hours ago

November 20, 2025

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All four UK governments 'failed to appreciate' scale of COVID pandemic threat - inquiry finds

All four UK governments failed to appreciate the scale of the threat posed by COVID-19 or the urgency of the response the pandemic required, a damning report published on Thursday has claimed.

Baroness Heather Hallett, the chair of the inquiry, described the response to the pandemic as “too little, too late”.

Tens of thousands of lives could have been saved during the first wave of COVID-19 had a mandatory lockdown been introduced a week earlier, the inquiry also found.

Noting how a “lack of urgency” made a mandatory lockdown “inevitable”, the report references modelling data to claim there could have been 23,000 fewer deaths during the first wave in England had it been introduced a week earlier.

The UK government first introduced advisory restrictions on 16 March 2020, including self-isolation, household quarantine and social distancing.

Had these measures been introduced sooner, the report states, the mandatory lockdown which followed from 23 March might not have been necessary at all.

COVID-19 first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019, and as it developed into a worldwide pandemic, the UK went in and out of unprecedented lockdown measures for two years starting from March 2020.

Lady Hallett admitted in her summary that politicians in the government and devolved administrations were forced to make decisions where “there was often no right answer or good outcome”.

“Nonetheless,” she said, “I can summarise my findings of the response as ‘too little, too late'”.

Report goes long way to answer inquiry’s critics

This scathing report goes a long way to answer the Covid 19 Inquiry’s critics who have consistently attacked it as a costly waste of time.

They tried to undermine Lady Hallet’s attempt to understand what went wrong and how we might do better as a lame exercise that would achieve very little.

Well, we now know that Boris Johnson’s “toxic and chaotic” government could well have prevented at least 23,000 deaths had they acted sooner and with greater urgency.

The response was “too little, too late”. And that nobody in power truly understood the scale of the emerging threat or the urgency of the response it required.

The grieving families who lost loved ones in the pandemic want answers. They want names. And they want accountability.

But that is beyond the remit of this Inquiry.

The publication of the report into Module 2 will bring them no comfort, it may even cause them more distress but it will bring them closer to understanding why the UK’s response to this unprecedented health crisis was so poor.

And we can easily identify the “advisors and ministers whose alleged rule breaking caused huge distress and undermined public confidence”.

Or who was in charge of the Department of Health and Social Care, as it misled the public by giving the impression that the UK was well prepared for the pandemic when it clearly was not.

‘Toxic culture’ at the heart of UK government

The report said there was “a toxic and chaotic culture” at the heart of the UK government during the pandemic.

The inquiry heard evidence about the “destabilising behaviour of a number of individuals” – including former No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings.

It said that by failing to tackle this chaotic culture – “and, at times, actively encouraging it” – former PM Boris Johnson “reinforced a culture in which the loudest voices prevailed and the views of other colleagues, particularly women, often went ignored, to the detriment of good decision-making”.

‘Misleading assurances’

The inquiry found all four governments in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland failed to understand the urgency of response the pandemic demanded in the early part of 2020.

The report reads: “This was compounded, in part, by misleading assurances from the Department of Health and Social Care and the widely held view that the UK was well prepared for a pandemic.”

The report notes how the UK government took a “high risk” when it significantly eased restrictions in England in July 2020 – “despite scientific advisers’ concerns about the public health risks of doing so”.

Lady Hallett has made 19 key recommendations which, if followed, she believes will better protect the UK in any future pandemic and improve decision-making in a crisis.

Repeated failings ‘inexcusable’

In a statement following the publication of Thursday’s report, Lady Hallett said there was a “serious failure” by all four governments to appreciate the level of “risk and calamity” facing the UK.

She said: “The tempo of the response should have been increased. It was not. February 2020 was a lost month.”

Lady Hallett said the inquiry does not advocate for national lockdowns, which she said should have been avoided if at all possible.

She said: “But to avoid them, governments must take timely and decisive action to control a spreading virus. The four governments of the UK did not.”

Lady Hallett said none of the governments were adequately prepared for the challenges and risks that a lockdown presented, and that many of the same failings were repeated later in 2020, which she said was “inexcusable”.

She added: “Each government had ample warning that the prevalence of the virus was increasing and would continue to do so into the winter months. Yet again, there was a failure to take timely and effective action.”

Politics

Prospective CFTC chair’s nomination advances through committee

Published

3 hours ago

November 20, 2025

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Prospective CFTC chair’s nomination advances through committee

Michael Selig’s nomination to chair the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is headed for a vote on the Senate floor after clearing a committee hurdle.

In a Thursday notice, Republican leaders with the Senate Agriculture Committee said they had advanced Selig’s nomination following a Wednesday hearing. The vote was reportedly along party lines, with no Democrats supporting Selig as US President Donald Trump’s pick to replace acting Chair Caroline Pham.

Politics, Government, Congress, CFTC — *Source:* *Senate Agriculture Committee Republicans*

The prospective CFTC chair answered questions from senators on Wednesday regarding potential conflicts of interest, his policy positions on DeFi and digital assets and the dearth of leadership at the federal agency. Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal supported his confirmation, citing Selig’s support for a digital asset market structure bill moving through Congress.

Selig was Trump’s second pick to chair the CFTC following the withdrawal of Brian Quintenz’s nomination. Selig will need support from at least 50 senators to be confirmed.

Four commissioner seats are still open

Even if Selig were to be confirmed quickly, Trump has not announced any nominees to fill the two remaining Republican and two Democratic seats at the CFTC. Since September, Pham has served as the agency’s sole Republican commissioner.