I’ll repeat myself: Unbelievable. Who does Rachel Reeves think she’s trying to fool?
Challenged to answer her critics after the pound plummeted and interest rates soared, Reeves turned up at the Dispatch Box…
And delivered such a quantity of flannel that This Writer thought she was trying to wash her way out of trouble.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Growth is the Labour government’s “number one mission”, she said. We’ve heard it before.
Her China trip represents “pragmatic co-operation in action” and supports “secure and resilient economic growth,” she said without explaining why. She also mentioned the “national interest”. Funny that she talks about that, abroad, but seems to have a blind spot about it at home.
She said Labour must go “further and faster in our plan to kickstart economic growth,” but did not say what this would entail.
And she said she and Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey “work closely together” to ensure the UK economy remains “competitive” in global markets.
To This Writer, that seems to be an outright lie – or an admission that Reeves does not understand what the Bank of England is doing.
And not anywhere in her speech or responses to questions did Reeves say exactly what she would do – together with or without the Bank – to restore confidence.
And I find that very strange, because we already know what needs to be done. Reeves just doesn’t have the guts to do it, it seems.
First, she can pull the interest rates back down to manageable levels by ordering the Bank of England to stop selling bonds it bought up during the 2008 and 2020 crises (in order to provide Tory governments with a money supply). These bonds are being sold at low prices, with high interest rates, in order to make them attractive to markets that are already saturated with bonds – but that pushes the general UK interest rate up.
All Reeves has to do is order the Bank to stop, on the grounds that it is not in the national interest to sell those bonds just now – which it isn’t!
Strangely, while she’s happy to spout about the national interest in relation to China, she suddenly dries up about it when it comes to organisations in her own country. Funny that.
Secondly, she can tax the rich. Tax the rich, Rachel! Some of them have been crying out to be taxed properly for years!
Again, it is not in the national interest for a very few people to be extremely rich – especially as the only reason many of them are rich is the Boris Johnson Tory government gave them billions of pounds for no good reason during the Covid crisis!
It may be true that the Bank of England is trying to get that money back using the bond sale method, but it’s not the right economic lever for the moment because that money would then be dead – it could not be used for the good of the country.
So the correct course of action is taxation.
But, again, Reeves doesn’t have the backbone.
If she doesn’t grow one soon, she will have to be removed, no matter how many times Keir Starmer insists she’s in place for the long haul.
Here’s economist Richard Murphy to put some meat on the bones of the argument I’ve outlined above:
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Unbelievable. Who does Rachel Reeves think she’s trying to fool?
I’ll repeat myself: Unbelievable. Who does Rachel Reeves think she’s trying to fool?
Challenged to answer her critics after the pound plummeted and interest rates soared, Reeves turned up at the Dispatch Box…
And delivered such a quantity of flannel that This Writer thought she was trying to wash her way out of trouble.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Growth is the Labour government’s “number one mission”, she said. We’ve heard it before.
Her China trip represents “pragmatic co-operation in action” and supports “secure and resilient economic growth,” she said without explaining why. She also mentioned the “national interest”. Funny that she talks about that, abroad, but seems to have a blind spot about it at home.
She said Labour must go “further and faster in our plan to kickstart economic growth,” but did not say what this would entail.
And she said she and Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey “work closely together” to ensure the UK economy remains “competitive” in global markets.
To This Writer, that seems to be an outright lie – or an admission that Reeves does not understand what the Bank of England is doing.
And not anywhere in her speech or responses to questions did Reeves say exactly what she would do – together with or without the Bank – to restore confidence.
And I find that very strange, because we already know what needs to be done. Reeves just doesn’t have the guts to do it, it seems.
First, she can pull the interest rates back down to manageable levels by ordering the Bank of England to stop selling bonds it bought up during the 2008 and 2020 crises (in order to provide Tory governments with a money supply). These bonds are being sold at low prices, with high interest rates, in order to make them attractive to markets that are already saturated with bonds – but that pushes the general UK interest rate up.
All Reeves has to do is order the Bank to stop, on the grounds that it is not in the national interest to sell those bonds just now – which it isn’t!
Strangely, while she’s happy to spout about the national interest in relation to China, she suddenly dries up about it when it comes to organisations in her own country. Funny that.
Secondly, she can tax the rich. Tax the rich, Rachel! Some of them have been crying out to be taxed properly for years!
Again, it is not in the national interest for a very few people to be extremely rich – especially as the only reason many of them are rich is the Boris Johnson Tory government gave them billions of pounds for no good reason during the Covid crisis!
It may be true that the Bank of England is trying to get that money back using the bond sale method, but it’s not the right economic lever for the moment because that money would then be dead – it could not be used for the good of the country.
So the correct course of action is taxation.
But, again, Reeves doesn’t have the backbone.
If she doesn’t grow one soon, she will have to be removed, no matter how many times Keir Starmer insists she’s in place for the long haul.
Here’s economist Richard Murphy to put some meat on the bones of the argument I’ve outlined above:
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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