Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Labour will bring back growth, Reeves to tell businesses

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to make her first speech of the General Election campaign (Yui Mok/PA)
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to make her first speech of the General Election campaign (Yui Mok/PA)

A Labour government will be both pro-business and pro-worker, Rachel Reeves is set to promise in her first major election speech on Tuesday.

The shadow chancellor is expected to tell business leaders that, having brought business back to Labour, the party can now “bring growth back to Britain”.

She will say: “By bringing business back to Britain we can deliver a better future for working people.”

Under Sir Keir Starmer, Labour has tried to woo businesses as a way of demonstrating it can be trusted with the economy.

General Election campaign 2024
Sir Keir Starmer has promised to stand up for working people (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Those efforts have brought success, with business attendance at recent party conferences higher than under Jeremy Corbyn and wealthy businessmen donating more to Labour’s war chest.

But in her speech on Tuesday, former Bank of England analyst Ms Reeves is expected to stress the need for a partnership with business, government and workers.

She will say Labour offers “a government that is pro-worker and pro-business, in the knowledge that each depends upon the success of the other”.

Her remarks come after Labour faced a backlash over an apparent rebranding of its “New Deal for Workers”, with Britain’s largest trade union Unite warning that the party must “stick to its guns” on workers’ rights.

Labour insisted it had not watered down its commitments, adding the proposals had followed agreement with the unions.

The Conservatives have argued that Labour’s proposals would cost jobs and place unnecessary burdens on businesses, but the opposition have claimed good businesses will welcome the plans.

Ms Reeves is also expected to stress Labour’s commitment to economic stability, a key message of the campaign, and urge voters to “pass judgment on 14 years of economic chaos and decline under the Conservatives”.

Her speech is the second major intervention from Labour of the week, following Sir Keir Starmer’s address on Monday, in which he promised to stand up for working people.

Treasury Chief Secretary Laura Trott said Labour would “tie businesses in red tape”.

“The bosses of Asda, Marks and Spencer, Currys and the Confederation of British Industry have all warned that Labour’s French-style union laws risk damaging the economy, costing jobs,” she said.

“Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives have a clear plan that businesses can rely on.

“We took the bold action to deliver the biggest business tax cut in modern history. Labour would tie businesses in red tape and raise taxes by £2,094 on hardworking families.”

SNP Westminster economy spokesman Drew Hendry said: “The latest speech by Rachel Reeves cynically ignore the most fundamental reason for the economic decline of the United Kingdom – Britain is broken and Brexit broke it.”