Prime Minister , speaking this morning at
Glass Futures in St Helens, said:
"I'm proud of every aspect of our economy, everything that we do
across the country, and that's why I have always said I will
fight for every job.
I know how important a good well-paid job is, and I hope you have
seen some of that in the trade deals we have recently done with
countries like India, the US, and the EU.
And only this morning actually you explained to me that the India
deal in particular will be really important for glass and what
you are doing directly, and of course for businesses like whiskey
who need glass all of the time.
And that comes from my absolute determination to create jobs,
good jobs, and to drive down the cost of living.
And put more money in your pocket which is, I think, the thing
that most people are most concerned about.
That's what drives me. But you can't say that about .
This is the man who said that Jaguar Land Rover ‘deserve', his
word, to go bust.
And he said that because he didn't like an advert that they
made.
This is a company at the absolute forefront of British
engineering and he says they deserve to go bust.
But, unlike , I have been to see the
workers at JLR several times over, particularly recently.
And I know what those jobs mean for the workforce themselves, for
their families, and their communities.
And I saw first-hand the anxiety on their faces, I met them just
as I have met you this morning, I saw the anxieties on their
faces when they thought their jobs were at risk.
So when they needed support earlier this year, when we had to
fight for their jobs, and make a deal with the US, I protected
those jobs because I had them in my mind's eye, and politics
about who you have in your mind's eye.
We protected those jobs. Would have done the same?
Absolutely not.
And that's the question you have to ask about . Can you trust him?
Can you trust him with your future?
Could you trust him with your jobs?
Could you trust him with your mortgages?
Your pensions?
Your bills?
And he gave the answer on Tuesday - a resounding no.
He set out economic plans that contain billions upon billions of
completely unfunded spending, precisely the sort of irresponsible
splurge that sent your mortgage costs, your bills, and the cost
of living through the roof.
It's all over again.
In opposition, we said she would crash the economy and leave you
to pick up the bill.
And we were right, and we were elected to fix that mess.
Now, in government, we are once again fighting the same fantasy,
this time from Farage.
The same bet, in the same casino, that you can spend tens of
billions of pounds on tax cuts without a proper way of paying for
it.
Using your family finances, your mortgages, your bills as the
gambling chip on his mad experiment.
And I can see that, in keeping with my point, apparently he's in
Las Vegas today at a casino.
And it's not a surprise, because he said that the budget, in his view, was the best since 1986.
That shows his judgment. It shows what he would do, and the
result would be exactly the same.
Now I'm not prepared to let that happen.
Labour's Plan for Change has stabilised the economy.
Growth in our economy is at the fastest rate in the G7 this
year.
Four cuts in interest rates, that means mortgages coming down,
and a pay boost for 3.5 million low-paid workers.
And, unlike , I know what it's like
growing up in a cost-of-living crisis.
I know what it's like when your family can't pay the bills, when
you fear the postman, and the bills that may be brought.
And I know how much work we have to do, but there is not and
never will be a magic wand that can wave away the need to manage
the public finances properly.
That is the foundation upon which everything rests, always.
Now we were elected to change the country, but we were also
elected to never put working people through a crisis like ever again.
And so that is what we are doing.
Scunthorpe steel, that was rescued.
JLR workers protected.
Wages rising.
Mortgages coming down.
NHS waiting lists cut, three million extra appointments this
year.
The living wage raised.
Water company bosses fined, you saw that earlier this week.
Immigration falling.
Breakfast clubs in every school.
And investment in infrastructure right across the
country.
The biggest levelling up of workers' rights in a
generation.
And a massive cash injection in our public services without
making working people pay.
stands for none of this, he
literally voted against it.
Against sick pay for working people.
Against fire and rehire.
Against cutting fuel duty.
And now he wants to blow up the economy all over again.
But we won't let him.
We will deliver our Plan for Change, and we will do so precisely
because we protect our economy.
That is the path to change, and that is what Labour will
deliver."
