A flood of dark British economic data this month has given Chancellor Rachel Reeves the “permission” of pursuing a more aggressive growth agenda, say high -ranking government officials. The sensitivities of the Labor party are kicked with feet and they are put at war with the supervisory authorities.
Next week, the Chancellor will hold a “growth” speech against the background of a stagnating economy, the latest turbulence on the bond markets and a survey on Friday British companies do jobs With the fastest pace since the finance crash, apart from pandemic.
Reeves, who would like to advance a number of flagship investment projects, said colleagues that they had decided to “faster and further” stuck to strive for growth after their latest blows by the markets and political opponents.
“The Ministry of Finance is of the opinion that it is all right,” said a minister. “It is seen as a permit for you to take a tighter way for growth measures.”
An ally of the Chancellor said: “She was frustrated about the speed at which things have occurred. She would like to use the power of the Ministry of Finance to show where we want to go next. That is politically controversial. “
For example, Reeves, who was criticized by the conservatives because of his visit to Beijing this month, is forced to listen to the fast-fashion company Shein in London, although there are concerns about the standards in his factories in China. It also supports an expansion of Heathrow Airport.
The market turbulence at the beginning of the year led to claims that Reeves’ job was at stake, but their supporters say that they used the incident to react with “strength and determination”. She said she would like to be named this month “The Iron Chancellor”.
However, the conservatives consider this ridiculous. “It is clear that Labor is overwhelmed and has no more ideas to grow the economy,” said Andrew Griffith, shadow management secretary. “The working population pays the Prize for Labor’s war against the economy.”
Griffith points out that despite all the deregulation talk, Reeves is to impose a number of new labor laws on the companies, which will also be the case in the government’s assessment the company cost £ 5 billion.
But Reeves – which spoke about the British economy at the World Economic Forum this week – has shown its willingness in the past few days to use the power of their office in order to take determined measures in all of Whitehall, some of which are secretly welcomed by the Tories.
Minister this week displaced Marcus Bokkerink as chairman of the competitive and market supervisory authority, the monopoly regulatory authority, which is criticized for alleged growth inhibition.
According to representatives of the Ministry of Finance, his departure is a signal to other regulatory authorities that they have to promote growth more. “Sometimes a message has to be sent,” said one.
Reeves’ focus to use the regulatory authorities has caused the private admiration of the opposition. “We should have done this ourselves,” said a former Tory finance minister.
But while some Tories secretly agree, Reeves’ actions have annoyed some on their side. Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell accused her of having opened critics door to the door to say that Labor “defend company abuse and profiteers”. Another high-ranking left-wing Labor MP said: “It is desperate.” However, she doesn’t seem to have a problem with making such enemies.
Also the Chancellor On the side of the banks This week in a case of the Supreme Court, in which it will be decided whether you may have to pay compensation in the double-digit billions in a case of misaluminations in the vehicle financing business. A new non-dom tax system has been relaxed.
Next week, Reeves will probably also signal her support for the airport expansion in the southeast, including Heathrow, despite violent criticism on the part of the Green Lobby and the Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan.
Whitehall insider believes that Reeves leaked the step of releasing their cabinet colleagues; Strander himself voted against a third starting and runway in Heathrow, while Ed Miliband- who had threatened to resign from Gordon Brown’s government on this matter- downturned every proposal this week that he would give up. In the meantime, judicial reviews of controversial infrastructure projects are restricted.
In view of the threat of her precarious financial plan due to slow growth, Reeves has instructed the Ministry of Finance not to concentrate on the budget anymore, but instead concentrate on the stimulation of the investments.
Officials work on a number of projects – some with code names related to fruits – to mobilize investments in Great Britain.
One refers to a huge new Universal theme park A location near Bedford is proposed, whereby officials who are about to talks between the company and the Ministry of Finance say that they “make good progress”.
Proponents of the project claim that it could generate an economic value of up to 50 billion pounds in the first 20 years. The Ministry of Finance was asked for financial support, among other things for the expansion of a M1 motorway junction and the construction of a new train station.
An official who was informed about the talks with the name Project Mandarin said that they were almost concluded: “It is one of these negotiations that could be concluded if you wanted.” Another person who was informed about the conversations, Added: “It’s very tight. It’s almost there, but not there yet. “
Officials said the support package mainly focused on ensuring infrastructure investments and improvements that will be of crucial importance for the transport of the thousands of people who travel to visit the 500 hectare area.
In the past, managers of ComCast – whose Universal Destinations & Experiences is behind the project – told the FT that they wanted to build “one of the greatest themed parks in the world”.
Universal Destinations & Experiences said: “We continue to have productive discussions with the British government.”
In addition to the theme park, Reeves also tries to conclude the negotiations with Astrazeneca on the revival of a stalling vaccine production facility in Speces, Merseyside.
The project was interrupted after the Ministry of Finance tried to reduce the amount of state support for the Pharmaceutical company’s vaccination center and to reduce the promise of the last conservative government from around £ 90 million.
In the meantime, Reeves also expected that you signal your support for a motorway and a tunnel about the Thames in the east of London worth 9 billion pounds, whereby private funds would be used to cover the costs for taxpayers.
There is also signs that the government wants to miss any criticism that it concentrates all of its firepower on the southeast of England.
The Ministry of Finance has announced plans to review the “Green Book” that uses the valuation of the value proposed investment decisions, which has long been the focus of the anger of critics that believe that London and the surrounding region favors it.
It has also promised to use the Office for Investment to build a pipeline of investable projects outside the southeast. Reeves is closely observed by the mayors of the north, who had been courted by the Labor government when they took office.
