Reeves: working people will be better off with Labour

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves will today (Monday 9 October) promise working people they will be better off with Labour as she announces once-in-a-generation reform as part of the party's pledge to get Britain building again.

Addressing the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool, Reeves will vow to accelerate the building of critical infrastructure for digital connectivity, laboratories, and energy - to drive growth, create jobs and unlock private sector investment.

The reforms would include:

• Speeding up the planning for critically important infrastructure by updating all national policy statements – which set out what types of projects the country needs – within the first six months of a Labour government

• Fast-tracking the planning process for priority growth areas of the economy, such as battery factories, laboratories, and 5G infrastructure

• Ensuring local communities get something back by providing businesses and communities with a menu of potential incentives, which could include cheaper energy bills

• Tackling unnecessary, egregious, and time-consuming litigation by setting clearer national guidance for developers on the engagement and consultation expected with local communities

• Strengthening public sector capacity to expedite planning decisions by raising the stamp duty surcharge on non-UK residents to appoint 300 new planning officers

Reeves will say that “the single biggest obstacle to building infrastructure, to investment and to growth in this country is the Conservative Party”.

The last Labour government delivered HS1 on time, under budget and at a cost of £50million per mile, comparable to France and Japan. Under the Conservatives, HS2 has failed to be delivered and cost the taxpayer £400 million per mile, making it the most expensive railway in the world.

Analysis by the engineering consultancy ARUP calculates that by following best practice infrastructure projects can be delivered 25 per cent cheaper and 20 per cent quicker than now, and deliver a better deal for taxpayers, businesses and local communities.

She will also pledge to restore business investment as a share of GDP to the level it was under the last Labour government. This would mean an additional £50 billion more every year in the British economy by the end of the decade – the equivalent to £1,700 per household. 

In her speech, Rachel Reeves is expected to say:

“Labour’s task is to restore hope to our politics. The hope that lets us face the future with confidence, with a new era of economic security because there is no hope without security.

“You cannot dream big if you cannot sleep in peace at night. The peace that comes from knowing you have enough to put aside for a rainy day and the knowledge that, when you need them, strong public services will be there for you and your family.

“The strength that allows a society to withstand global shocks because it is from those strong foundations of security, that hope can spring. 

“The choice at the election is this. Five more years of the Tory chaos and uncertainty, which has left working people worse off or a changed Labour Party ready to strengthen Britain’s foundations, so working people are better off.”

On Labour’s plans to get Britain building again, she is expected to say:

“If we want to spur investment, restore economic security, and revive growth. Then we must get Britain building again.

“The Tories would have you believe we can’t build anything anymore. In fact, the single biggest obstacle to building infrastructure, to investment and to growth in this country is the Conservative Party itself.

“If the Tories won’t build, if the Tories can’t build, then we will. Taking head on the obstacles presented by our antiquated planning system.

“Since 2012, decision times for national infrastructure have increased by 65 per cent, now taking four years. Labour stands with the builders not the blockers.

“So today I am announcing our plans to get Britain building. A once in a generation set of reforms to accelerate the building of critical infrastructure for energy, transport, and technology. To fast-track battery factories, life sciences and 5G infrastructure and to tackle the litigation which devours time and money before we ever see shovels in the ground.

“And to make sure that when a local community hosts critical national infrastructure, they will feel the benefits, including lower energy bills. 

“It is time we had a government with ambition for our communities. A government siding with the builders not the blockers. A government that will get Britain building again.”

Ends

Notes:

Reforms to nationally significant infrastructure projects

Certainty, not chaos:

• Some National Policy Statements have not been updated for more than a decade, and do not reflect existing government policy. Labour will update all National Policy Statements within the first six months of a Labour government, providing clear policy, set by ministers, detailing what should be built and where, and linked to specific announcements and funding streams. We will also set clear objectives, hardwiring national priorities like economic growth and net zero into the planning system, as is done in Germany. 

• Labour will modernise the infrastructure planning regime to reflect a changing economy. This approach will accelerate planning applications and the development of gigafactories, laboratories and 5G infrastructure.

Proportionality, not red tape:

• Planning applications for a single project like the Thames Tunnel can be over 60,000 pages long and cost £800 million of taxpayers’ money before a single shovel is in the ground. The £20 billion Sizewell C project compiled over 44,000 pages of environmental data, but was challenged for failure to assess the environmental impact.

• Labour will set national policy guidance on the proportionality of evidence required, with the Planning Inspectorate returning to its role as an assessor rather than arbiter. We will set ‘off the shelf’ mitigation standards and approved mitigation schemes, so developers know in advance what actions to take and costs, reducing delays and legal challenge while enhancing protection for vulnerable species and habitats.

Communities benefiting, not ignored:

• Community consent is vital to the long-term success of the planning system, and delay can set in when local communities feel their views have been ignored. At present, there is no clear policy framework to guide decision making by business or inform the expectations of local areas. This adds unnecessary delay and pits communities and businesses against one another.

• A Labour government would simplify this system by building a clear framework for community benefit on clean energy projects, providing business and communities with a clear menu of ‘off the shelf’ options they can choose from. This will simplify the consenting process and make applications quicker, cheaper, and simpler.

Democracy, not litigation:

• In recent years, the rate of judicial review has soared, with nearly three in five projects facing judicial review up from a long-term average of ten per cent. 

• Labour will set out clear national guidance on consultation. This will mean that, whilst we will ensure high standards for engagement and democratic accountability, developers will no longer feel the need to run overly lengthy, often duplicative rounds of consultation, with protection from legal challenge if they have strictly adhered to guidance.

Grip, not drift:

• Labour will increase planning capacity by hiring more than 300 new planners across the public sector. This will also allow us to ensure that every local planning authority has at least one full time planner, which is not currently the case, as well as providing for central government planning resource to be beefed up. We will fund this by increasing the surcharge on stamp duty paid by non-UK-residents when they buy property in the UK, from two percent to three percent, as announced at our party conference in 2022. This will raise £25 million a year.

Bringing investment back to Britain:

• Labour will aim to bring business investment as a share of GDP up from 10 per cent to 11 per cent, the level it was under the last Labour government.

• Labour analysis using Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts and assumptions from the Resolution Foundation’s Beyond Boosterism report estimate if investment was maintained at 11 per cent from 2024 to 2030 the increase capital stock will mean £50 billion more every year in the British economy by the end of the decade. That is the equivalent to £1,700 per household.