Britain’s ruling Labor Party tried on Monday to strike a more optimistic note about the country’s future, but against a furious union reaction to proposed cuts to welfare payments and a row over gifts by top ministers.
Finance Minister Rachel Reeves is addressing the centre-left party’s annual conference in a keynote speech from 11:00 GMT as ministers try to prevent the freebies row from escalating.
The conference should have been an opportunity for Labor to celebrate their landslide victory in July’s general election over the Conservatives after 14 years out of power.
But in recent days Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his top team have been forced to fend off accusations of hypocrisy for accepting expensive gifts at the same time as asking ordinary people to tighten their belts.
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All gifts have been declared and none breach parliamentary rules.
But the record shows Starmer has accepted more than £100,000 ($132,000) in gifts and hospitality since December 2019 — more than any other lawmaker.
It also emerged that Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner had taken out a loan on a New York apartment for a holiday.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson also admitted receiving a £14,000 donation to fund a 40th birthday event and another reception.
Since Friday, it has also emerged that Reeves, who angered unions and fellow Labor MPs by announcing plans to cut winter fuel payments for many pensioners, received around £7,500 in clothing.
Reeves has defended scrapping the £300 payment to 10 million pensioners to help heat their homes because of what Labor says is a “£22bn black hole” left by the Conservatives.
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Proposals calling for the cut to be abandoned have been put forward at the conference. Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite trade union, called it “harsh” and urged a turnaround.
Trade Secretary Douglas Alexander admitted the stories about the freebies “were not the headlines we would have chosen” for his party’s first conference after taking power.
Reasons to be happy?
Reeves’ speech, which comes just over a month before Labour’s first detailed budget, will be closely watched given her talk of tough decisions has been seen as a warning of possible tax rises and spending cuts.
UK government debt in August hit the milestone of 100 percent of the country’s gross domestic product — its total annual output — a level not seen since the early 1960s.
Starmer previously warned Britons that the budget announcement on October 30 would be “painful”.
But Reeves on Monday tried to strike a note of optimism after criticism from commentators that she and Starmer were too gloomy.
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Promising there would be “no austerity under Labour”, she insisted there would be “growth in public spending”, adding there were “plenty of reasons to be optimistic”.
In her speech she is expected to pledge a “budget that will rebuild Britain and deliver the change that Labor promised”, with economic growth as the government’s “number one mission”.
Reeves is also expected to announce the appointment of a new Covid corruption commissioner next month to try to recover billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money wasted on contracts during the global health emergency.
The Conservatives under Boris Johnson have been heavily criticized for the way they have awarded contracts to supply protective clothing and other equipment during the pandemic.
This led to “billions of public money being handed out to friends and donors of the Conservative Party. Billions more defrauded of taxpayers”, Reeves is expected to tell the conference.
Source: AFP