Rachel Reeves: Conservatives 'gaslighting' public over the economy

By the time of the next election we can expect, and we should expect, interest rates to be lower, Britain to be out of recession and inflation to have returned to the Bank of England’s target. Indeed, these things could happen this month. I already know what the Prime Minister and the Chancellor will say in response to one or all of these events happening. They’ve been saying it for months now. Our plan is working. The economy is turning a corner. Stick with us. In fact, that’s almost exactly what the Prime Minister said in his statement following the disaster that was the Conservatives local election performance last week. But I want to take those arguments head on because they do not speak to the economic reality. During the local elections, I traveled right across the country. I spoke to hundreds of people. I listened to their concerns. The family from red car. The dad doing an apprenticeship. The mum working in a supermarket who spends every evening talking about money because there’s not enough to pay the bills. The small business owner in Milton Keynes, desperate to expand but faced with a system of business rates that are sacked against them. The worker at the train manufacturer Hitachi, based in Newton Aycliffe, who trained up for what he thought was going to be a job for life, but now finds that that is all at risk thanks to this government’s actions. When they hear government ministers telling them that they have never had it so good that they should look out for the feel good factor, all they hear is a government that is deluded and totally out of touch with the realities on the ground. The Conservatives are gaslighting the British public. They say we’ve turned a corner, but try telling that to the 6.4 million households across England and Wales last year who saw their rent increase, or who had to remortgage, Or the 950,000 families whose mortgage deal is due to expire between now and January next year. They say the plan is working. Is this the same plan that has meant that this is forecast to be the first parliament on record, with living standards at the end lower than they were at the start? Look, no votes have been cast in the next general election when we’re fighting for every single vote. But the results last week, not just the percentage shares or the number of councils won or the number of mayors won, including of course in the Prime Minister’s own backyard in North Yorkshire. But the places that we were winning are the places that we need to win to form the next government. And we can feel confident coming out of those elections that the message that we are putting forward is resonating. And I don’t think that the results last week point to a hung parliament. But we know that we need to fight for every single vote in the next election and we’re determined to do just that.