Reeves says people can support racist policy without being racist, in reference to PM’s comment about Reform UK
Ferrari asks about what Keir Starmer said yesterday about Reform UK’s plan to end indefinite leave to remain being racist.
Q: Does supporting that policy make someone racist?
No, says Reeves.
Q: So you can support a racist policy but not be racist.
Reeves says it is a racist policy.
Q: But how can you support a racist policy and not be racist?
Reeves says people support Reform UK for all sorts of reasons.
Ferrari says he does not see how you can support a racist policy and not be racist.
Reeves says she is not sure lots of people do support this policy. She says:
I think there are lots of people who back Reform would be horrified by the thought that people who came to this country legally, are working and contributing, will be deported from this country. And we had to call out Reform for their policies. And this is a racist policy, and it’s a bad for our country, and we need to call that out.
Key events
Reeves plays down, but does not deny, report saying Treasury expects tax will have to rise by £30bn in budget
Rachel Reeves is on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, where one of the presenters, Ed Balls, is a Labour former shadow chancellor.
Balls puts it to Reeves that Treasury officials told ITV’s Robert Peston last week that she would need to put up taxes by about £30bn.
Reeves says the final forecasts, which will determine what the final budget figures are, have not yet been provided by the Office for Budget Responsibility. But she does not try to dispute the figure.
Reeves to urge business leaders to face up to risk Reform UK poses to economy
In her Today interview Rachel Reeves was asked about a FT report saying she will urge business leaders to highlight the risks of a Reform UK government in her speech later.
The FT say Reeves will tell the Labour conference.
Who is standing up for Britain’s stability. A Labour government that is resolute in cutting interest rates and borrowing or a Reform party that cheered on Liz Truss’ mini-budget?
Who is standing up for Britain’s businesses? A Labour government that is forging a closer relationship with our nearest trading partners or a Reform party that talks Britain down and is hungry to cut us off from the world?
Nick Robinson suggested that business would not take kindly to this, given the way Reeves put their taxes up. Reeves brushed this aside.
Q: You are saying you don’t call supporters of Reform racist. But it looks as if you don’t understand people’s concerns.
Reeves says the government should call out policies that are wrong.
She says it is one thing deporting people who arrive in the UK illegally.
But the Reform UK plan would mean someone working alongside you being deported because they were born abroad, or someone living next to you being who was born abroad being deported. That is wrong, and racist, she says.
Reeves says much of speculation about possible tax rises in budget is ‘rubbish’
Q: Do you accept that you cannot tax your way to growth?
Reeves says it is not just about tax.
The government’s changes to the planning rules will promote growth, she says.
Q: People with shares, or pensions, or savings, or a valuable home – when you say you will protect working people, who are not including them, are you. You are coming for them, arent’ you.
Reeves says many of the people who claim to know what will be in the budget are “talking rubbish”. And some of the pre-budget speculation is irresponsible, she says.
Reeves confirms she no longer stands by pledge to CBI last year about not coming back with more tax rises
Reeves says her youth unemployment plan will build on what previous governments have done.
There has always been conditionality in the benefits system, she says.
Q: Can you repeat the statement you made to the CBI last year, when you said you were not coming back with more borrowing and more taxes.
Reeves says everyone can see that the world has changed since then.
Robinson says he is interpreting that as meaning taxes will go up.
Reeves says benefits bill too high
Rachel Reeves is now being interviewed by another Nick – Nick Robinson on the Today programme.
Q: Last year you spoke of iron discipline. But you buckle when you face difficult choices.
Reeves says she faced a difficult situation when Labour took power.
She says the government has maintained its commitment to economic discipline.
Q: You changed on winter fuel payments, and on disability benefits. As soon as the going got tough, you got going.
Reeves says the government had to make a number of difficult decisions.
But all the tax decisions stand, she says.
Q: Are you ever going to say no to people?
Reeves says people have seen her take difficult decisiions.
Q: Will you cut welfare spending. Spending on health and disability benefits is due to rise from £61bn to £72bn by the end of this parliament.
Reeves says Stephen Timms, the disability minister, is looking at this.
Q: Will you cut the benefits bill?
Reeves says the benefits bill is too high.
Reeves does not dispute LBC presenter’s suggestion that Andy Burnham bond market comments makes him ‘Trussesque’
Reeves ended her LBC interview by saying that anyone saying the government should just borrow more “makes no economic sense”. That was in response to a question about Andy Burnham and his comments about the bond markets in an interview last week.
Ferrari asked her if she was saying that Burnham was “Trussesque”.
Reeves laughs as Ferrari’s word, which he describes as new. She goes on:
Anybody that says you can just borrow more – I do think that risks going the way of Liz Truss.
Reeves says people can support racist policy without being racist, in reference to PM’s comment about Reform UK
Ferrari asks about what Keir Starmer said yesterday about Reform UK’s plan to end indefinite leave to remain being racist.
Q: Does supporting that policy make someone racist?
No, says Reeves.
Q: So you can support a racist policy but not be racist.
Reeves says it is a racist policy.
Q: But how can you support a racist policy and not be racist?
Reeves says people support Reform UK for all sorts of reasons.
Ferrari says he does not see how you can support a racist policy and not be racist.
Reeves says she is not sure lots of people do support this policy. She says:
I think there are lots of people who back Reform would be horrified by the thought that people who came to this country legally, are working and contributing, will be deported from this country. And we had to call out Reform for their policies. And this is a racist policy, and it’s a bad for our country, and we need to call that out.
Reeves pushes back at suggestions VAT may rise, saying commitment not to put it up still stands
Ferrari says the UK has lower growth forecasts than other G7 countries.
Reeves says the OECD is saying the UK will have the second fastest growing economy in the G7 this year and next.
And for the first half of this year, the only period for which data is available, the UK economy grew at 1% – faster than other G7 economies.
Q: Can you rule out a VAT increase in the budget?
Reeves says the government made those commitments and they stand.
Ferrari says something stands until it falls.
Reeves says Labour made those commitments because they want working people tobe better off. She goes on:
We are continuing with standing by, whatever words you want to use, those commitments.
Q: Can you rule out a VAT increase?
Reeves says listeners “can hear the commitment that I have made”.
She says the govenment is standing by its commitments because it wants people to be better off at the end of this parliament.
Rachel Reeves is on LBC, being interviewed by Nick Ferrari.
Reeves says almost one million young people are not in work or training. That amounts to one in eight, she says, 18 to 24-year-olds.
They are more likely to suffer as a result unemployment later in life, lower wages and mental health problems.
Q: How much will this cost?
Reeves says the money for this was allocated in the spending review. Further details will be in the budget.
Ferrari keeps asking how much it will cost, and Reeves keeps insisting she will set that out in the budget.
Reeves says there are hundreds of thousands of vacancies in the economy. Employers say they struggle to hire the right people, she says.
Ferrari quotes various business leaders saying government policies are making it harder for them to operate.
Reeves says some of the first quoted by Ferrari (Next, Marks and Spencer, Asda and Aldi) have recently announced good results.
Reeves to pledge Youth Guarantee to ‘abolish’ unemployment for young people
Good morning. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, was a student when the Blair government was in power and one of her heroes at the time was Gordon Brown, who ran the Treasury for 10 years. One of Brown’s flagship measures was an employment programme for young people (the new deal) and today Reeves says she wants to achieve something similar. In her speech she will say:
At the spending review, I pledged record investment in skills to support our young people. And so today, I can announce that with that investment we will fund a new Youth Guarantee …
We won’t leave a generation of young people to languish without prospects – denied the dignity, the security and the ladders of opportunity that good work provides.
Just as the last Labour government, with its new deal for young people, abolished long-term youth unemployment I can commit this government to nothing less than the abolition of long-term youth unemployment. We’ve done before and we’ll do it again.
Reeves is doing a full media interview round this morning. I will be covering it in detail.
Some newspapers are splashing this morning on previews of the Reeves speech.
As Pippa Crerar reports for the Guardian, Reeves is also going to announce funding for a library in every primary school in England.
Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, is also speaking at the conference today, and other papers are splashing on what she is set to say. Rajeev Syal has a preview for the Guardian here.
And here are the frontpage headlines from the Telegraph and the Times.
And the Guardian and the Daily Mail have both splashed on Keir Starmer’s comments about Reform UK yesterday – with rather different takes.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10am: The conference opens. The morning speakers include Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, at 10.05am, John Healey, the defence secretary, at 10.50am, and Peter Kyle, the business secretary, at 11.40am.
Noon: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, speaks.
2pm: The afternoon session open with a speech from Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary and candidate for deputy leader. The other speakers include Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, at 2.40pm, David Lammy, the deputy PM and justice secretary, at 2.50pm, Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, at 3.30pm, Liz Kendall, the science secretary, at 3.45pm, and Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, at 4pm.
2pm: Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, speaks to Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey from the Guardian’s Politics Live podcast at a fringe event.
2.30pm: Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, speaks at a fringe event.
3.15pm: Burnham speaks at a fringe event on devolution.
4.30pm: Anneliese Dodds, the former development minister, speaks at a More in Common fringe.
5pm: Lammy speaks about taking on the populist right at an IPPR fringe meeting.
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