Reeves’ economy inheritance claim one of Labour’s ‘biggest lies’, Hunt tells Tory conference – UK politics live | Politics
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- September 30, 2024
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Hunt claims economy, and government’s fiscal position, much better than Labour says
Jeremy Hunt, the shadow chancellor, is speaking at the conference hall now. He is being interviewed by Daniel Finkelstein, the Times columnist and Tory peer.
Hunt says Rachel Reeves’ claim that the Tories left the worst economic inheritance since the war is one of “the biggest lies” told by Labour.
He says he would have died to have had the legacy Reeves had when he took over.
He says a Freedom of Information Act inquiry by the Financial Times recently showed the Treasury was unwilling to justify its claim that there is a £22bn black hole in the public finances.
UPDATE: Asked if he agreed with Labour’s claim that the state of the economy will get worse before it gets better, Hunt said:
They will get worse if Labour makes catastrophic mistakes in the budget and hikes up tax in a way that destroys growth.
I think one of the biggest lies we’ve had since Labour came to office is this nonsense about having the worst economic inheritance since the second world war …
You don’t have to take my word for it, I mean just read this week’s Economist where there’s an article saying that [Reeves] could have actually not have a black hole of £22bn but a surplus of £39bn.
Hunt was referring to this Economist article. Here is an extract.
The reality is more nuanced. The Tories did plenty to mute growth and muddle the public finances. But Ms Reeves has more wriggle room than she has let on. The constraints she faces on tax are largely self-imposed. Even the £22bn black hole is something of a mirage. Perhaps around half was truly unforeseeable: troubling cost overruns on the asylum system and more. But, as one-offs, these don’t affect Britain’s fiscal position much. The other half—pay bumps for public-sector workers—will have a fiscal impact but were no surprise …
Jeremy Hunt, Ms Reeves’s predecessor, left Britain with £8.9bn in “fiscal headroom”, the amount of borrowing permitted before the government violates its fiscal rules. Since then gilt yields have fallen, growth has been strong-ish and another fiscal year has passed, which rolls the five-year target on by another year. That should push Britain’s fiscal headroom up once the OBR updates its forecasts. Capital Economics, a consultancy, reckons it will hit £22bn.
With tweaks, that headroom could rise further still. One sensible move would be to exclude the Bank of England’s losses from quantitative easing from the definition of public debt used for the fiscal rules. Doing so would push headroom up by another £17bn, to £39bn.
Key events
Badenoch is now taking part in quickfire round.
Q: Netflix or a good book?
Netflix, says Badenoch. She says she wishes she had time for a good book.
Q: Beach holiday or hiking holiday?
Beach holiday, says Badenoch.
Q: Audio book or podcast?
Badenoch says there are too many podcasts. But she does not listen to audio books, so it would be podcasts. But she likes short ones. She mentions the Spectator’s Coffee House Shots.
And that’s the end of that fringe.
Q: I remember the sense of inspiration I had as a 14-year-old in 1979, when Margaret Thatcher took over. I am inspired today by what you have said. I love the fact that you speak your mind. But can you win over younger people?
Badenoch says the Tories were in government for 14 years. Young people cannot remember what Labour was like. They lost some votes just from the “general fatigue” of being in government. They need to speak more about the future.
Q: What would you do to improve the birthrate?
Badenoch says someone asked a more blunt version of this question; what would she do to encourage more people to have sex?
She says yesterday she was asked about maternity pay. Things like maternity pay are good for encouraging people to start families.
Housing is an issue too, she says.
She says people are scared about having families. They worry if they can afford them, and what the birth process will be like, and what will happen to their bodies.
She says having a family is probably the most meaningful thing people will do.
She says there is a deep conversation to be had about this.
Badenoch rejects claim her immigration policy depends on reforming EHCR
Q: Why do you think you can reform the European convention on human rights when previous attempts have failed?
Badenoch says she does not think you can reform it.
That is not where she would start with in terms of having an immigration policy.
She thinks leaving the ECHR would lead to wrangling with bodies like the House of Lords, as you had with Brexit.
There are countries in the ECHR that are deporting 70% of people. In the UK, it is 10%. That shows the ECHR is not the problem, she says.
She says one problem is the staff in the Home Office. They do not support tough policies. Some of them would be better off working for Amnesty.
But if it proves necessary to leave the ECHR, she would back leaving.
Q: Do you think people who voted Reform think the diversity agenda is going too far?
Badenoch says people voted Reform because they did not see enough “authentic conservatism” from the Tories.
She says tax and immigration were the top issues for this group.
She says she does not think people are pushing back against having a diverse society. A multi-ethnic society is now a given, she says.
Badenoch is now taking questions from the audience.
Q: My son has just started secondary school. I am worried about how sexualised the RHSE curriculum has become.
Badenoch says there is more sexualised content than before. The last government tried to address this.
She was sent something with materials for children than included fisting. That should not be in material for children.
Exterior organisations produce material used by schools. Schools should look at this.
And parents should have the right to see this material, she says. (In fact, they already do.)
Badenoch says her life has no meaning without her family.
Childcare is phenomenally expensive, she says – even for people on high incomes.
As for policy, she says it is important to start with values. She will not throw out policy now.
If you fix families, you improve things in other areas, she says. Many people are in prison because of their family background.
But government cannot do everything, she says. She says government regulation should not be the solution to all problems. “We have to unleash the talents of the people themselves.”
Badenoch says the Tory party has sounded “too technical”.
It needs to talk about issues that matter to people.
But the Conservative party also need to offer fun if it wants members. She says she met her huband through the party. “Join the party and get a date.”
She says she always makes her own meetings family-friendly. And that means more people come, including men. She says issues that people describe as women’s issues are often parents’ issues.
Badenoch says the Tories fought the 2019 election on the platform of getting Brexit done.
But once Brexit was done, the party starting arguing, because people did not agree on issues like housing and Covid, she says.
She says the party needs a “safe space” where they can debate and decide policy. After that, they need to unite behind it, she says.
Tory members ‘very angry’ with their MPs because of their ‘squabbling’, says Badenoch
Q: What have you learned during the campaign talking to members?
Badenoch says she has learned that members are “very angry”, she says.
I’ve learned that the members are very angry. Members are angry with national politicians because they got tired of seeing us squabbling, inviting disagreements, and they don’t want to see that anymore.
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