Jonathan Reynolds' speech at Labour Conference

Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds addressed the Labour Party conference.

Thank you, Conference.   

We meet at an exciting time for our Party.   

We have put in the work to once again be the voice of the British people and as a result, many are willing to put their faith in us again.     

Labour is facing the country and speaking a language that people are again willing to listen to but Conference - we know the real work still lies ahead of us.   

Because we have a solemn obligation to renew this country in the same way we have renewed this Party. 

Last week in Manchester, we saw the alternative. 

All the Tories had to offer were lies, conspiracy theories and more of Liz Truss. 

Conference, I don’t know which of those frightens me the most.   

If I get to be a Labour Business Secretary, I know we will face one of the greatest sets of challenges any incoming Government has had to deal with.    

A cost-of-living crisis;  

Our post-Brexit future;   

The transition to a net zero economy;  

All of which requires the very best of Government.  

But faced with those challenges this Government - out of ideas and out of time -has sought to make net zero a divisive issue and row back on the promises they made to British industry.     

If the Tories want to fight the next election in this way I say – bring it on.   

Because Labour knows net zero is key to rebuilding our country.     

That it can and should mean more jobs, cheaper bills and greater security in an uncertain world.     

But you need a government with the vision to see it and the bravery to grasp it.     

It was at this podium last year that I launched Labour’s industrial strategy.    

Over the last twelve months, the Tories have spent their time proving exactly why we need one.    

I simply do not accept, that we should have the worst business investment of any major economy.    

I do not accept, that we cannot build enough clean energy to protect us from dictators and energy crises, and I do not accept that we cannot build the infrastructure Britain needs.    

Businesses, up and down the land, know this is no way to run a country.    

How can we expect businesses, to invest for the long-term, when they can’t rely on a single word of Government policy?    

Businesses need ambition, they need commitment, and they need consistency.    

Under a Labour Government, they will get it.    

Because Net Zero is a challenge, but it is also an incredible opportunity.    

A chance to rebuild good jobs, in all parts of the country.    

And with that give Britain its hope and optimism back.    

Our Industrial Strategy will stretch every sinew of Government to deliver for working people.  

Bringing together our Green Prosperity Plan;  

Our changes to planning;  

Our reform of the apprenticeship levy;  

Our New Deal for Working People;  

Our commitment to devolving power and control;  

And our plans to improve our deal with the EU as part of a proper trade strategy that stands behind our great exporters and strengthens Britain on the world stage.    

All designed to bring wealth, opportunity and pride back to Britain.     

A Labour Business Secretary will deliver wind turbines, small modular reactors, and green hydrogen, bringing us cheaper and more reliable energy and giving you cheaper bills, bustling high streets and small businesses growing in every town - improving the place where you live.  

And a vibrant services sector, using data and technology to deliver products we can barely conceive of today.   

That is what Industrial Strategy is.  

That’s what our Industrial Strategy will be.    

Not a nostalgic hark back to the days of the past, but the kind of strategy that gives business the confidence, and the opportunity, to choose this country over the alternatives.    

Let me tell you what that means in practice.   

I grew up in Sunderland next door to the Nissan factory.   

I know the difference good companies make to a place.   

I have school friends who work there.     

That’s why I will never take the automotive sector for granted and why I am proud to announce here today Labour’s plan to drive the automotive industry confidently into the future. 

We will deliver battery factories on our shores, reliable charging networks in every part of the country, secure supply chains and 80,000 more high skilled jobs.  

I know what this industry can do for local communities.   

And while the Conservatives chop and change and leave British industry stalled   

Labour’s Industrial Strategy will give the automotive sector it’s future back.     

And Conference, there is something I cannot stress enough which is that this moment of opportunity, must be just that.  

One that has at the heart of it, the delivery of good jobs and good wages.    

Because being where I’m from and living my adult life in Tameside I know what happens when Government gets major economic changes wrong.  

And instead of working to make transition a success, Government just walks away, leaving people to face huge economic shifts on their own.  

We cannot afford to blow this opportunity, to repeat the mistakes of the 1980s, and leave behind regional inequalities so entrenched we can still see the scars today.    

And I promise you Conference, if I get to be a Labour Business Secretary,   

decarbonisation will never, ever mean deindustrialisation.   

And core to that is our commitment to the steel industry.   

Only this Government, could offer to spend half a billion pounds to make thousands of workers redundant.   

I met with the workers at Port Talbot just a few weeks ago.  

I know some of them, are delegates here in the hall today.  

And I’ll say here, what I said to them: Labour supports Green Steel.   

But we know the workforce are our greatest asset in delivering that, and any real plan for green steel must cover the whole industry, it must be open to all the technology available, and it should fundamentally be a story of new jobs, new opportunities, new exports, and British economic strength rather than outsourcing our emissions and pretending that is progress.    

And Labour will have your back every step of the way to make sure that is what is delivered.    

And on the subject of industries going through change, Britian’s postal workers have been through a difficult time, a bitter dispute in which the Government have frankly been nowhere.  

Royal Mail is a great British institution and should have a bright future.     

So, I promise to you, I’ll be the Labour Business Secretary you need, to make sure Royal Mail is sustainable, is successful, but in a way that provides good employment and is again right at the very heart of national life and all our communities.   

Conference that is why I want to be a Labour Business Secretary.   

It’s true that the Labour Party has strengthened our relationship with business, and I make no apology for that.  

In fact, I believe we stand here today as the undisputed party of business. 

And I take pride in the fact that business leaders and workers alike look to us and not the Conservatives to address the big challenges ahead    

The Conservatives have nothing left to offer but division and fear and they are willing to blow our greatest opportunity in decades to try and save themselves     

But here in the Labour Party that will never be our approach.   

We know that the best of Britain is when we work together.  

That the only way to properly rise to the challenges before us, is to build a new pro-business, pro worker national consensus around industrial strategy, greater investment, and good jobs in every part of the UK. 

Industry and workers pulling together, hand in hand to face the future.      

Rebuilding Britain cannot wait another day.   

Out of the wreckage of this Government, let us give Britain a brighter future than ever before.  

One where the future is built here.    

Where people have jobs, they can raise a family on, have towns and places they can have pride in, and have power over the changes affecting their lives.   

This is the Britain we can build.   

This is the Britain we must build.   

With Labour, this is the Britain we will build.    

Thank you.