In a speech to the British Chambers of Commerce today (Wednesday
17 May), will say his Labour government
will make “tough choices but the right choices” when it comes to
the UK’s planning system.
Speaking in central London, the Labour leader will say:
“A generation and its hopes are being blocked by those who - more
often than not - enjoy the secure homes and jobs that they’re
denying to others.”
“You can’t be serious about raising productivity, about improving
the supply-side capacity of our economy and about arresting our
economic decline, without a plan for the windfarms, the
laboratories, the warehouses and the homes this country so
desperately needs”, he will say.
“Mark my words: we will take on planning reform. We’ll bring back
local housing targets. We’ll streamline the process for national
infrastructure projects and commercial development and we’ll
remove the veto used by big landowners to stop shovels hitting
the ground.”
“We choose the builders, not the blockers; the future, not the
past; renewal not decline. We choose growth.”
The Labour leader will outline the opportunities for
growth in a changing world:
“The shape of power in the world is changing, there is war on our
continent.”
“Because of this, we must square up to a new economic era where
the old assumptions – on labour, on energy, on trade and goods –
no longer apply.”
“There are also opportunities to be seized, new markets to open
up and a more prosperous future that can be won.”
“This is the biggest opportunity to make our country work for
working people we’ve had in decades.”
Starmer will say that Britain’s planning system is one of
the vital factors holding back British growth and stopping us
from the opportunities of the future:
“The net result is an economy stuck in second gear. A doom-loop
of low growth, low productivity and high taxes. We know the
problems – we’ve just got show a bit more bottle to fix them.”
“We need a reformed planning system, a modern industrial
strategy, a more powerful British business bank that will help
scale businesses – new and old.”
“We need a government that won’t sit on the side-lines.”
Starmer will also outline five key economic shifts that
will underpin Labour’s mission for growth:
He will say that the shifts will be “the building blocks of our
strategy to lead Britain out of its low growth, high tax,
doom-loop.”
He will set out plans to give economic stability and certainty;
to hand power to communities across the country; to seize the
opportunities of the future; to increase security at work and to
build resilience into the British economy.
Starmer will speak with optimism about the future of the
country, describing those who back Labour’s plans as a “union of
the willing” between the British people, businesses and builders,
“the backbone of our country … impatient to build a better
Britain”:
“We are ready to take on that challenge and we will deliver. I
know because I see more and more people lining up shoulder to
shoulder with Labour.”
“Businesses - crying out for a government that backs them to
grow. Working people - desperate for an economy that puts their
interests first. Everyone from scientists to pipe-fitters, data
engineers to plumbers.”
“A union of the willing - impatient to build a better Britain.
That’s the businesses, the builders, the British people.”
“Together, no less than the backbone of our economy. The backbone
of our country – united in their hope for a better future.”
