Message for Reeves on Budget week
For a story we're publishing tomorrow AM SHARP. Simple question: What would be the one thing you would like to say to Rachel Reeves as she enters Budget week? Video responses particularly welcome.
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5 responses from the Newspage communityCopy all
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Former BoE Chief Economist, Andy Haldane, has asked Reeves to quit the 'fiscal fandango.' He's right. This Budget process has been a circus for months: leaks, U-turns, daily tax rise speculation. It's caused paralysis among businesses and consumers, and it's the single biggest reason growth has flatlined in the second half of the year.
Reeves inherited a bad hand, but it's been played poorly. The black hole narrative's sucked the life out of the economy. Right now, we have a halfway house of leaks and speculation that serves absolutely no one. Least of all the nation.
Wednesday is Reeves' chance to decisively end that pernicious speculation. Invest in the new AI skills this country desperately needs. We've got 946,000 NEETs locked out whilst AI slays the junior roles they need to build careers supporting new AI workflows. The minimum wage and NICs rises have priced NEETs out of their old SME training grounds. Let's match the Dutch NEET rate, worth an estimated £69bn gain to UK PLC.
Reeves inherited a bad hand, but it's been played poorly. The black hole narrative's sucked the life out of the economy. Right now, we have a halfway house of leaks and speculation that serves absolutely no one. Least of all the nation.
Wednesday is Reeves' chance to decisively end that pernicious speculation. Invest in the new AI skills this country desperately needs. We've got 946,000 NEETs locked out whilst AI slays the junior roles they need to build careers supporting new AI workflows. The minimum wage and NICs rises have priced NEETs out of their old SME training grounds. Let's match the Dutch NEET rate, worth an estimated £69bn gain to UK PLC.
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If Rachel Reeves is serious about her Growth Agenda, she should rethink the Employment Rights Bill. Making unfair dismissal a day-one right will deter small businesses from hiring at the very moment we need them creating jobs.
No employer deliberately hires someone specifically to sack them a few days later—it simply doesn’t happen. But it is impossible to know how a new recruit will work out from an interview alone. The current two-year period gives firms the confidence to take a chance on people.
If the Chancellor wants growth, she must avoid policies that make employers think twice about taking someone on.
No employer deliberately hires someone specifically to sack them a few days later—it simply doesn’t happen. But it is impossible to know how a new recruit will work out from an interview alone. The current two-year period gives firms the confidence to take a chance on people.
If the Chancellor wants growth, she must avoid policies that make employers think twice about taking someone on.
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My message to Rachel Reeves is be bold and be brave. Don't raise taxes, just convert all public sector defined benefit pensions to defined contribution, especially those of MPs. According to the ONS, there are 6.5 million public sector employees earning on average £37,000 a year. Switching from defined benefit to defined contribution rates could save up to £58 billion a year. No need to worry about fiscal black holes in that scenario. Switch today and improve the country's cash-flow overnight.
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Face the country you’ve inherited, not the fantasy your advisers keep drafting. Households, landlords and small businesses are running on fumes. They need honesty, not headlines. Budget week is your moment to prove you can steady the ship rather than spray more policy confetti. Real leadership means protecting the people who keep this economy standing. Will you do that, or will this be another week of promises that collapse on contact with reality or bend to unpopular opinion?