Chancellor John Healey has promised a “new age of industrialisation” while warning hard-up Brits he won’t be throwing cash around like confetti. The money minister claimed he is a “proud optimist” fighting to bring hope back to the UK.
But in a fiery speech to the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on Monday, he delivered a stark reality check on the nation's empty piggy bank, warning that the days of 1990s-style spending splurges are dead and buried.
Reality check on public finances
Recalling his days as a young parliamentary aide to Gordon Brown, the Chancellor admitted the financial cupboard is bare, blaming 14 years of Tory rule, staggering debt and crumbling public services.
Laying down the law on public cash, Mr Healey said: “There is nothing progressive about losing control.” He added: “The money New Labour had in the 90s is simply not there now.”
£100m apprenticeship fund for metro mayors
Despite the tight wallet, the Chancellor unveiled a multi-billion-pound plan to get Britain building again. Metro mayors will get a £100m war chest, saved directly from welfare cuts, to launch a local apprenticeship service aimed at getting nearly a million jobless youngsters into work.
Addressing the rising welfare costs, he said: “Conference, it is not progressive to allow a bigger and bigger benefits bill, and a system which offers an income but doesn't offer a future.
“So once again, as a Labour government, it falls to us to act. And this is more than just an economic must. This is a moral duty. I refuse to write off a million young people like the Tories have done.”
He added: “I see a generation born this century—digital natives, whip-smart, questioning, ambitious, brave. I see the best asset we have in our young people, and I believe this generation has the potential to be a great generation. And I believe we can help this generation move from generation jeopardy to generation hope.”
Rolls-Royce investment and defence contracts
Engineering giant Rolls-Royce is also pumping £300m of private cash into factories across Rotherham, Derby, Bristol and Glasgow. On top of that, UK shipyards are landing a massive £6bn stack of defence contracts to build brand-new submarine docks, while the Union Learning Fund is back to help workers master AI before robots take their jobs.
Slamming opposition rivals, Mr Healey mocked Reform UK leader Nigel Farage as “Liz Truss with a Bitcoin account” and promised Labour would step up to fix the economy.
Pointing to a miner's lamp sitting on his shelf at home in Rotherham, Mr Healey insisted his tight-fisted approach will fuel Britain's comeback and light the way forward for the next generation. He said: “Our coal mines are not coming back, but this is how Britain’s industrial past is being remade... don't tell me that people can't hope again.”
