Keir Starmer said “can judge by whether they have more money in their pockets five years from now”.
The Prime Minister said this would be a crucial week for Britain ahead of Labour’s first Budget in 15 years. He said: “This is the moment for us to reject austerity, chaos and decline and choose a clear path of stability, investment and reform.
“It’s no secret that the Conservatives have not just run a leaky ship for 14 years. They have sailed it carelessly through every storm, hurled it on the rocks and made the British people pay the price.” Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s budget presentation by Rachel Reeves, the first ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Prime Minister said: “But difficult times demand a government that is committed and unwavering.
“This Wednesday we will show how much difference a Labour government can make.”
He said his budget would “invest in growth, jobs and the NHS and stop chaos, division and Conservative decline.”
It comes ahead of a speech in the West Midlands today where he will describe the challenge facing the Government as “unprecedented”. Starmer vowed the budget would “deliver on our promise not to return to the austerity measures that have stifled growth and hollowed out public services”.
“Our hospitals, our roads, our schools and our homes have collapsed. And we watched the Conservatives carelessly spend £15bn on corrupt Covid contracts and £45bn on unfunded tax cuts.”
And asked why the Conservatives had not apologised, he said: “They knew exactly what they were doing. Take prisons, for example. They knew the system was on the brink of collapse and yet they refused to act. They knew our public services were broken.
“They knew there was a black hole in the finances. They knew that they had squandered the nation’s financial reserves three times over – on Rwanda, on asylum hotels, on turning around a failed railway company.”
In his speech on Monday, he will say: “Everybody will wake up on Thursday to a new future being built, a better future.”
He will compare it to the situation Tony Blair and David Cameron inherited when they moved to No 10 Downing Street and say: “This is not 1997, when the economy was doing well but public services were in disarray.
“And this is not 2010, when public services were doing well but the finances were weak. This is an unprecedented situation,” he said, adding that the economy was now “riddled with weaknesses” while the state “urgently needs to modernise”.
The Prime Minister continued, “The time has come to make the hard choices, because ignoring them puts us on a path of decline. And in his pursuit of the Conservatives and the UK Reform Council he would declare: “We will ignore the populist chorus for easy answers… we will never go back to that.”
And as a challenge to his opponents he would say, “If people want to criticise the path we have chosen, that’s your right. But then let them set a different course.
“If they think the government has become too big, let Labour tell them what public services they would cut. If they think long-term investment in infrastructure is not needed, then they should let Labour explain how that would drive economic growth for them.”
This will be a landmark British week.
The first Labour Budget in 14 years. This is the first Budget in UK history to be presented by a female Chancellor of the Exchequer. And for the first time in a decade and a half, the concerns and priorities of working people have come top of mind.
Now is the moment for us to reject austerity, chaos and decline, and choose a clear path of stability, investment and reform.
It’s no secret that for 14 years the Conservatives have not just run a leaky ship, they have steered it carelessly through every storm, hurling it on the rocks and making the British people pay the price.
We’ve been told there is no money to invest in infrastructure and public services. Our hospitals, roads, schools and homes have collapsed. And we watched as the Conservatives smugly handed out £15bn in corrupt Covid contracts and spent £45bn on unfunded tax cuts.
Where is the Tory apology?
They knew exactly what they were doing. They took over the prisons. They knew the system was on the brink of collapse, yet they refused to act. They knew our public services were broken. They knew there was a black hole in the finances. They knew we had squandered the nation’s fiscal reserves three times over on Rwanda, on asylum hotels, on supporting a failed railway company, etc. That’s why they ran out and called for early elections.
It is Labour who will pay the price.
The Conservatives should apologise for the damage they have caused.
Labour is focused on cleaning up the mess, repairing the foundations and building a better future.
So this Budget delivers on our promise that we will not return to the austerity policies that have stifled growth and undermined public services.
And there will be no return to the chaos that sent mortgage rates soaring when the Tories allowed borrowing to spiral out of control.
This Budget takes a different path: fair, responsible, long-term solutions for working people. Stability means we can invest, and reform ensures that investment is maximised.
Stability, investment, reform. This is how we will fix the NHS, rebuild Britain and protect working people’s payrolls.
You don’t have to judge us by our words today. Judge us by whether you’ll have more money in your pocket in five years’ time. Judge us by whether the NHS will be there when you need it. Judge us by whether Britain will be working for you again.
We must continue to navigate rough waters. But in difficult times we need a Government that acts, not backs down.
This Wednesday we will show the difference a Labour Government can make. A Budget that invests in growth, jobs and the NHS, and rejects Tory chaos, division and decline.