Echoes of Rishi Sunak in Rachel Reeves’s rite of passage speech
The Mais lecture has become a kind of rite of passage for all aspirant chancellors.
This annual speech, held at the Bayes Business School in the City of London, was where Nigel Lawson laid out his thinking about reforming the economy in the 1980s.
It was where George Osborne provided his plan for his first 50 days in office, where Gordon Brown explained the economics behind his policies.
It is, in short, a very big deal.
Money blog: Big drop in inflation predicted
So the merest fact that Rachel Reeves has given this lecture is, in a sense, a part of the story of her ascendancy. If the polls are to be believed, she will shortly be Britain’s next chancellor (its first female chancellor, believe it or not).
This is her moment on the stage, to expand on the economic foundations for her time in government.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Labour’s shadow chancellor sat down with Sky’s Ed Conway
So in one respect it feels a little churlish to accuse her of providing too little information on the policies she’ll be implementing if she does enter Number 11. The Mais Lecture is all about technocracy, not about big spending pledges.
And on the technocratic front, this lecture certainly delivered. There will be a beefed up role for the enterprise and growth unit inside the Treasury, a new task for the Office for Budget Responsibility to ponder the importance of investment.
And she confirmed, in the most explicit terms yet, that she will not change the Bank of England‘s 2% inflation target – and that her fiscal rules will closely resemble the government’s current ones.
A Tory-sounding speech
But, as you can tell from the last two points there, it is hard, reading the lecture as a whole, to divine a dramatic change from the current nature of government policy.
While the shadow chancellor talks approvingly about the US Democrats’ subsidy schemes for boosting green investment, there is no hint that the UK will do anything similar. Indeed, Ms Reeves has just recently cancelled her plan to increase annual government green investment to £28bn a year.
Perhaps the simplest accusation one can direct at Ms Reeves is that her plan sounds deceptively similar to the ones proposed by the current government.
Indeed, the three priorities from Rishi Sunak’s own Mais lecture of 2022 – encouraging businesses to invest more, improving technical skills and cementing Britain’s position as the most innovative economy in the world – all feature in Ms Reeves’s own lecture.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Labour backs tax cuts
Now on the one hand, you might well expect journalists, who like news, to complain about the lack of big news in this speech.
But on the other hand it’s not clear that the policy plans provided by the Labour Party are in any way proportionate to the scale of challenge it suggests it faces.
Moreover, while George Osborne committed in his Mais lecture to an emergency budget within 50 days of getting into office, followed shortly by a spending review, Ms Reeves still has yet to confirm she’ll have an emergency budget soon after the next election.
Any policies ahead of the election?
At this stage, a lot of people are rightly wondering whether Labour has any sizeable policies left ahead of the election – especially given the Conservatives have just stolen their plan to abolish non-dom status at this month’s budget.
As it happens, Labour do have plans for an emergency budget within 100 days of the election, and a spending review too.
But they are wary of talking about them too soon – both because of the risk of market instability and because they are bedding in for a long campaign and a late election.
The Labour strategists believe it is much more sensible at this point of the electoral cycle – with many months likely left before an election – to emphasise stability and good sense rather than to throw titbits of policy out there into the open.
They suspect that any policies they announce will likely be stolen by the Conservatives – and they might have a point.
All flights were halted at Edinburgh Airport this morning due to an IT issue affecting its air traffic control provider.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the airport later announced service had resumed.
Its post read: “Flights have now resumed following the IT issue with our air traffic provider.
“We thank passengers for their patience and understanding.”
But passengers continue to feel the effects.
A Delta Air Lines flight from New York to Edinburgh was diverted to Dublin after going into a holding pattern over the Scottish capital.
And a live arrivals board on the airport’s website showed multiple flights diverted, delayed and cancelled.
Arrivals board at Edinburgh Airport. Pic: Edinburgh Airport
Morven McCall and Cody Stevenson, both 19, were due to fly easyJet from Edinburgh to Amsterdam on their first trip away together.
Morven told Sky News: “We literally just got into the airport and as soon as we walked through the door there was an announcement that it had been cancelled.
“I was ill over the summer and had to cancel two holidays already, this was our first time going away together. We are just gutted and stressed.”
Follow live: Latest updates as flights halted
Arrivals at Edinburgh Airport. File pic: PA
One passenger was on a plane when they found out.
They said: “We boarded our flight and pushed back on time for an 8.45 (am) departure, then sat for a while before the pilot told us what was happening.
“He updated us a couple of times, cabin crew are brilliant at handing out water etc, and I’m surprised that everyone appears to be upbeat. But then you do wonder how long for, just been told we’re hoping to be in the air in 20 minutes.”
Another passenger told us: “The first news was from the airport announcement as we were halfway through boarding, saying the airfield was closed due to air traffic control down.
“No one knew what was going on. We’d already been delayed a bit before boarding, with no reason. I suspect problems started about 9am.”
It comes after an earlier announcement that all flights had been halted.
“No flights are currently operating from Edinburgh Airport,” the previous statement said.
“Teams are working on the issue and will resolve as soon as possible.”
There was no timeframe for recovery initially, Sky News learned.
It’s understood by PA that the issue was not linked to today’s Cloudflare outage.
Edinburgh Trams also posted on X, writing: “If you’re travelling with us to @EDI_Airport this morning, please be aware that flights are not currently operating.”
The airport urged passengers to contact their airline for the latest information on flights.
An average of 43,000 passengers per day use the airport, which is served by 37 airlines flying to 155 destinations.
A former doctor has been charged over alleged sexual assaults on 38 patients in his care.
Nathaniel Spencer, 38, has been charged with 15 counts of sexual assault, 17 counts of assault by penetration, nine counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, three counts of assault a child under 13 by penetration and one count of attempted assault by penetration.
It follows a police investigation into alleged sexual offences between 2017 and 2021.
Staffordshire Police said in a statement the charges come after a complex investigation by the Public Protection Unit into sexual offences at the Royal Stoke University Hospital, in Stoke-on-Trent, and Russells Hall Hospital, in Dudley.
North Staffordshire Justice Centre
Ben Samples, deputy chief crown prosecutor for the West Midlands CPS Complex Casework Unit and Serious Violence, Organised Crime and Exploitation Unit, said: “We have decided to prosecute Nathaniel Spencer for a number of serious sexual offences allegedly carried out against patients while he was working as a doctor – including assault by penetration and sexual assault against a child.
“Our prosecutors have worked at length to support a detailed and complex investigation by Staffordshire Police, carefully reviewing the available evidence to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial and that it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings.”
Spencer, from Birmingham, will appear at North Staffordshire Justice Centre on 20 January 2026.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment3 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024