Rachel Reeves aligns Labour with Biden’s economic policy in Washington speech
Labour will take inspiration from Joe Biden to create jobs and reduce inflation with an approach branded by the shadow chancellor as “secureonomics”.
In a speech at the Peterson Institute in Washington DC, Rachel Reeves outlined a mission to ensure economic security across the UK by rebuilding Britain’s “industrial foundation”.
This will mean “investing in the sectors and technologies that will determine our future economic success”, she said.
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Ms Reeves also suggested the current Brexit deal would be “reviewed” under a Labour government by 2025 if it wins power at the next election.
She dubbed her strategy “securonomics”, which she said would mean a bigger role for the government in running the free-market economy and fostering new partnerships with international allies.
Aligning the policy with the Biden Administration, Ms Reeves said the US President was “rebuilding America’s economic security” with a more active state and modern industrial strategy – as she heaped praise on his Inflation Reduction Act.
The landmark package of tax breaks and subsidies seeks to curb the deficit and invest in green technology and clean energy in an approach dubbed “Bidenomics”.
Labour has previously said an £8bn national wealth fund would result in a zero-carbon economy “made in Britain” and has committed to invest £28bn a year in the “green economy” – two policies Ms Reeves promoted in her speech.
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She said “errors in economic policymaking allowed Britain’s economy to weaken” – citing the “long, hard years of austerity and the chaos of our recent governments”.
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Ms Reeves said: “Securonomics can right these wrongs.
“By drawing on the talent and effort of millions of working people in every part of the country.
“By forging a new partnership between an active state and dynamic open markets, and by fostering a new era of global partnerships between nations with shared values and interests.”
Tory chairman Greg Hands dismissed the plans as “the same old Labour ideas”, and declared that his party “will take no lectures from Labour” on the economy.
Ms Reeves stressed her approach “won’t mean trying to become a British version of America”.
But she suggested Labour would hope to deepen and redefine UK-US ties as a “green special relationship”, with a focus on renewable energy such as offshore wind and carbon capture and storage.
On Brussels, Ms Reeves expanded on Sir Keir Starmer’s suggestion that Britain needs a “better deal” with the EU, saying a review of the current legislation would begin by 2025 under Labour.
“Britain with Labour will be a trading nation, exporting across the world and open to business and investment at home,” she said.
“Britain cannot, should not and – with Labour in power – would not try to go it alone.
“In 2025, the UK’s deal with the European Union will be reviewed.
“While there’s no going back into the single market or the customs union, with Labour we would make trade easier with Europe, and rebuild ties with our closest neighbours.”
A US vaccine firm has opened the first mRNA manufacturing plant in the UK, against a backdrop of increasing anti-jab rhetoric back home.
The new facility outside Oxford is part of a £1bn investment in the UK by Moderna, which specialises in mRNA.
The novel vaccine technology delivered some of the most effective and fastest-to-develop jabs during the COVID pandemic.
Several pharma companies, including Germany’s leading mRNA pioneer BioNTech, are now racing to develop new therapies.
Moderna says the plant will produce up to 100 million doses of its existing vaccine products each year. It has also been designed to scale-up production to 250 million doses a year in the event of a new disease outbreak.
“God-forbid, if there is another pandemic, we can switch the facility any day,” said Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel.
The UK investment deal was agreed by the previous government, but the plant’s opening is welcome relief for the current one.
In recent weeks, four major pharmaceutical companies have halted planned investments in the UK following disputes over drug pricing and profitability in the UK.
‘A great statement’
It also promises to restore domestic vaccine manufacturing capability in the UK, the lack of which was exposed when dangerous supply interruptions threatened the early COVID response.
“It’s a really fast way of getting new vaccines discovered,” said Lord Patrick Vallance, former chief scientist and now science minister.
“It’s also a great statement of confidence in the UK that [Moderna has] chosen to base themselves here.”
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The mRNA molecule is the same used by our cells to order the production of new proteins, and allows vaccines to be produced using just the genetic code of a virus or other biological target.
Moderna’s investment decision pre-dated Donald Trump’s return to the White House, but the Moderna CEO said its operation in the UK – a country that “still believes in vaccination” – may pay dividends if anti-vaccine rhetoric translates into a lack of demand for its products in the US.
“If there is less appetite by governments around the world, including in the US, to use vaccines, we might invest less in vaccines,” said Mr Bancel.
“We have to invest where there’s a demand for our products.”
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The UK presents other attractions for the company which has suffered substantial losses as demand for its COVID vaccine has fallen.
It’s betting that leading UK universities and a large patient population will make for successful clinical trials.
The company has ongoing NHS trials of new jabs against seasonal flu, a combination COVID and flu vaccine, cancer vaccines and mRNA therapies for two inherited childhood diseases.
Moderna says it is now the largest private commercial sponsor of clinical trials in the UK.
A shoplifter has been jailed and banned from every Boots store after stealing £107,000 worth of goods from the high street chain.
Liam Hutchinson, 32, of no fixed address, was sentenced to a year in prison at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
He was also issued with a criminal behaviour order, banning him from every Boots store in the UK for 10 years – and the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea for five years.
Metropolitan Police detectives trawled through hours of CCTV footage to find that Hutchinson had committed 99 shoplifting offences at Boots stores in the borough between May and August 2025.
Hutchinson stealing from shelves in Boots on CCTV. Pic: Met Police
Often stealing large quantities of razors and electrical items, his crimes cost the retailer £107,000 in revenue, Sergeant Jack Vine, of the Met’s volume crime team said.
“We recognised the impact Hutchinson’s actions were having on the retailer, and through working with staff, we built a strong case of evidence against him, which has been reflected in his sentencing,” he added.
“This result should act as a warning that this type of behaviour will not be tolerated, and that we will come down hard on those who show a complete disregard for the law, terrorise retail workers and cost businesses thousands of pounds.”
Liam Hutchinson being caught by officers in bodycam footage. Pic: Met Police
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Nicky Harrop, head of security, fraud, and contract management at Boots, said the company have been investing “significantly” in anti-theft measures to make sure stores “remain a safe and respectful environment” for customers and staff.
The Met says it is prioritising shoplifting, having solved 163% more cases in London compared to the same time last year.
It is also dedicating up to 80 additional officers across London’s West End, with 90 more in high-risk theft areas.
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