Shadow Chancellor has been outlining her plans again today for Labour as a pro-business party. This means no rise in Corporation Tax and leaving bankers bonuses alone amongst other things. How will this help ordinary people?
An obvious and realistic answer is that it wont. However if you look at Reeves underlying message, it is that only a stable and successful capitalist economy can deliver the growth to allow for measures that will benefit the many rather than the few. One might suggest that this verges on utopian socialist (but that would be unkind to utopian socialists) but it is a common delusion in Labour. Gordon Brown promised there would be no return to boom and bust, until 2008 happened.
Reeves however is in good company. The very first Labour Chancellor Philip Snowden who took office in January 1924 had a very similar view. Roy Jenkins wrote that Snowden far from arguing with the Governor of the Bank of England, Montagu, was in love with him, or at least his ideas.
To be fair Labour has had other traditions in respect of the economy but the one Snowden and Reeves represent has had the upper hand for the most part.
Leave a Reply