Rachel Reeves’ bar mitzvah speech echoes Rishi Sunak

The Mace speech has become a rite of passage for all aspiring prime ministers.

Nigel Lawson sets out his reflections on the economic reforms of the 1980s in his annual lecture at Bayesian Business School in the City of London.

Where was it originally? george osborne Gordon Brown has provided a plan for his first 50 days in office, explaining the economics behind his policies.

In short, this is a very important thing.

Money Blog: Inflation expected to fall sharply

So the simplest fact is Rachel Reeves In a sense, this speech is part of the story of her rise. If the polls are to be believed, she will soon become Britain’s next chancellor of the exchequer (the first female chancellor of the exchequer, believe it or not).

This was her moment on the stage, expanding her economic base during her time in government.

So, on the one hand, it feels a bit churlish to accuse her of providing too little information about the policies she will implement once she reaches No. 11. The themes of Mace’s lectures were all about technocrats, not big spending commitments.

On the technocratic side, the speech was undoubtedly a success. The role of the enterprise and growth unit within the Treasury will be strengthened, as part of a new mandate from the Office for Budget Responsibility to reflect on the importance of investment.

She confirmed in the clearest terms yet that she would not change bank of england2% inflation target – and her fiscal rules will be very similar to the government’s current rules.

Conservative sounding speech

However, as you can tell from the last two points, reading the lecture as a whole, it is difficult to predict the sea change in the current nature of government policy.

While the shadow chancellor praised the US Democrats’ subsidy scheme to promote green investment, there is no sign of similar action in the UK.In fact, Ms. Reeves recently canceled her plans Increase annual government green investment to £28 billion.

Perhaps the simplest accusation one can make against Ms. Reeves is that her plans sound very similar to those proposed by the current administration.

Indeed, Rishi Sunak’s own 2022 Mace speech included three priorities – encouraging business to invest more, boosting technology skills and cementing the UK’s position as the world’s most innovative economy. status — all reflected in Ms. Reeves’ own speech.

Now, on the one hand, you might well expect news-loving journalists to complain about the lack of breaking news in this speech.

But on the other hand, it is unclear whether the policy plan offered by Labor is commensurate with the scale of the challenge it faces.

Furthermore, while George Osborne pledged in his Mace speech to produce an emergency budget within 50 days of taking office, followed by a spending review, Ms Reeves has yet to confirm that she will do so shortly after the next election. Create an emergency budget.

Do you have any policies before the election?

At this stage, many are rightly wondering whether Labor has any major policies ahead of the election – especially given that the Conservatives have just stolen plans to abolish Non-Dominion status in this month’s budget.

As it happens, Labor does plan to produce an emergency budget and conduct a spending review within 100 days of the election.

But they are wary of talking about the issues too early – partly because of the risk of market instability and partly because they are bracing for a long campaign and later election.

Labor strategists believe that at this stage of the election cycle – with the election likely to be months away – it is wiser to emphasize stability and good judgment rather than making the details of policy public.

They suspect that any policy they announce could be stolen by the Conservatives – and they may have a point.