General secretary highlights ‘legacy of 14 years of falling living standards under the Tories’

In an article for the Guardian, the Labour MP Clive Lewis said Rachel Reeves’ growth speech this week means the party has abandoned its pre-election green commitments.

Here is an extract.

A growing suspicion looms that our government lacks a coherent governing philosophy or ideological compass beyond the vague pursuit of “growth”. But if growth at any cost is the mantra, the costs will soon become painfully clear. Why pledge to be clean and green, only to undermine that commitment with a Heathrow expansion promise six months later? Burning the furniture to stay warm doesn’t signal confidence – it reeks of panic.

Regardless of the motivation, Labour has crossed the Rubicon. Approving Heathrow expansion is an irreversible break with our pre-election pledges. In 2021, Reeves stood in front of the Labour party conference and declared that she would be the “first-ever green chancellor”. Now, Labour is accused of obstructing the climate and nature bill and abandoning its ambitious decarbonisation plans. The rapid turnaround is striking …

I do a bit. There are nine million working age adults who are not working. And as we compete globally with countries like, you know, South Korea, China, India, you know, we need a work ethic. We need everybody to be making a contribution. … we need to lift our game and to up our game.

Chris Philp was the architect of the Liz Truss budget which crashed the economy and sent family mortgages rocketing.

After the Conservatives’ economic failure left working people worse off, it takes some real brass neck for the Tory top team to tell the public that it’s really all their fault.

I was making the case that tax cuts…need to be accompanied by spending control or spending reductions … in order to show that the books are being balanced and to avoid the market reaction that we saw …

I made that case internally … but it wasn’t unfortunately listened to. I think had my suggestions been listened to a bit earlier, then there was a there’s a much higher chance that [the mini-budget] would have worked. And it’ll be always a matter of regret that those points weren’t taken on board.

Refugee Council says ‘many refugees themselves could also be prosecuted’ under proposals

Richard Madeley goes next.

Q: The Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary says you are wrong, and the third runway won’t be built until you are 70. You are 45 now. Why is he wrong?

We’re signing off decisions on wind farms, on solar farms, a commitment to a new stadium at Old Trafford. We are upgrading the Transpennine route to make journey times easier between York and Manchester via Leeds and Huddersfield. Those things are happening right now.