Reeves is on a mission...and it's far from impossible

I can confidently predict that we’re going to start getting very tired of members of Keir Starmer’s newly anointed cabinet telling us about Labour’s “missions”.

- JAMES MOORE

Nevertheless, chancellor Rachel Reeves declaring growth “a national mission” in a speech to business leaders is justified. The success of the government, and the country it oversees, hinges on finding more of it.

Let’s recall what the Institute for Fiscal Studies said of the Labour manifesto, as well as its spending plans and the fiscal rules it has signed up to: “On current forecasts … this leaves literally no room for any more spending than planned by the current government. And those plans do involve cuts both to investment spending and to spending on unprotected public services.”

Chancellors often have to say “no” to their colleagues. The question for Reeves is when to do so. If she has to do this too often – at a time when public services are visibly crumbling – her newfound popularity will suffer. She badly needs the help of the UK economy.

Providing funding for thousands of new planning officers is a good start. It shows that Reeves has been thinking more deeply about this than her predecessors. The problems caused by the nation’s sclerotic planning system have been greatly exacerbated by the funding crisis councils have been grappling with, which has squeezed resources.