By Chris McCall
Copyright dailyrecord
Nigel Farage is the “single greatest threat” to working people across the UK, Rachel Reeves has warned today. The Chancellor spelled out the risks of voting for Reform when she addressed the Labour conference in Liverpool as speculation mounts that tax rises could be on the agenda when the Budget is announced next month. Reeves said: “Who will stand up for Britain abroad? Labour, working together with her allies? Or Reform, in bed with Vladimir Putin?” Farage’s right-wing populists are soaring in the polls but Reeves urged her party colleagues to “have faith” because Labour and Britain “have overcome greater challenges than these”. She told the conference in Liverpool: “The single greatest threat to our way of life and to the living standards of working people is the agenda of Nigel Farage and the Reform party. “Whatever falsehoods they push, whatever easy answers they peddle, however willing they are to tear communities and families apart, they are not on the side of working people.” “This is a fight that we must win, and it is a fight that we will win,” she added. She asked delegates who is standing up for British interests – “Labour, or a party that is in bed with Vladimir Putin?” Reeves continued: “Who is standing up for Britain’s national health service?” The Chancellor also said patriotism is “not measured in how quick you are to exclude, how loudly you shout, how willing you are to exploit every division and distort every challenge that we face”. She added in her speech to the Labour conference that patriotism is “measured in our obstinate determination, our impatience, our commitment to building a better, fairer, more prosperous Britain”. “That is our patriotic mission, those are our Labour values, those are our British values, and we will fight for them,” Reeves said. To cheers from the conference floor, Reeves concluded: “Whatever challenges come our way don’t be deterred, because I can see the destination if we stay true to our course, a Britain where every child can flourish, no matter their background or their parents’ jobs or where they grow up – and never let anyone tell you that there’s no difference between a Labour government and a Conservative government.” She added: “There is further to go, but whatever tests confront us, have faith because our party and our country have overcome greater challenges than these. “Have faith because the opportunity to serve is what we came into this for. “Have faith, knowing that this Labour Government will not rest, I will not rest, until our patriotic cause is realised in a Britain that prizes contribution, that unlocks opportunity, that silences the nagging voices of decline. “Never let anyone tell you that there’s no difference between a Labour government and a Conservative government.” Senior Labour minister Darren Jones later did not rule out the possibility of tax rises in the autumn Budget. Asked if the party’s manifesto commitment to not raise VAT, national insurance or income tax still stood following Rachel Reeves’ speech at Labour’s annual conference, the Prime Minister’s Chief Secretary replied: “Well, the truth is, today the manifesto stands.” Pressed whether he could rule out tax rises, Jones replied: “I am not ruling anything out, or anything in. “All I’m saying is today the manifesto stands. We’ve got a Budget process to go through, and any decisions will be announced to Parliament in the normal way.” When Jones was then asked if the commitment would still remain in place following the Budget in November, he replied: “I’m saying it stands. “And if you look at our actions in the last budget, through the spring statement, through the spending review, we honoured those commitments, and we’re going to keep doing so.” To sign up to the Daily R ecord Politics newsletter, click here
