There was one line recurring again and again in the chancellor’s speech to Labour conference: “That’s the Britain we’re building.”
This is clearly a feature of Rachel Reeves’s determination to demonstrate more optimism – not just the tough choices to come, but the rewards she believes will come from having made them.
The phrase may also be an allusion to Labour’s determination to increase housebuilding, perhaps the biggest component of the government’s plans to increase economic growth.
I think it is also a conscious echo of the last speech delivered by a prime minister to a Labour conference – Gordon Brown in 2009.
In that speech, Brown reeled off a list of what he saw as the New Labour governments’ achievements, concluding to a raucous ovation: “That’s the Britain we’ve been building together”.
Clips of the speech are often shared on social media by Labour politicians and activists – Reeves is subtly signalling to them that she hopes to build a similar record in government.
The most controversial decision Reeves has made in her 80 days as chancellor is withdrawing the winter fuel allowance from most pensioners.
The chancellor tackled that head on, arguing that pensioners would still benefit from a rising state pension because of Labour’s commitment to the triple-lock.
Interestingly, she made an argument in this section which was not really about the winter fuel allowance itself, but about the necessity of making controversial decisions overall.
“I know that not everyone in this hall or in the country will agree with every decision that I make. But I will not duck those decisions, not for political expediency, not for personal advantage… I did not take those decisions lightly, I will never take the responsibility of this office lightly,” she said.
For all that Reeves’s speech was more optimistic than her previous rhetoric, she is making this argument because she knows that there is more controversy to come, with decisions that will not only be divisive nationwide but within the Labour Party too.
