Jonathan Reynolds says there is no contradiction between Labour's new plans for growth and the government's green commitments, citing investments in renewable energy and clean technology as "massive opportunities". The business secretary did, however, admit that there are “trade-offs” involved in growth and that the government will have to accept this as part of the process. This comes ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves' major speech on growth, in which she is expected to speak about plans of improving water infrastructure, expanding Heathrow, and unlocking big investments for the country. Report by Faragt. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Well, look, I think what the Prime Minister has said is that whatever people think of,
00:05say, the Thatcher government politically, it had determination, it had resolve, much like
00:09Conservatives recognise the post-war Labour government had that kind of determination and
00:14resolve. And what the Prime Minister has said is that is what we need right now. We don't need
00:17half measures. We don't need things announced and not delivered upon. We don't need the difficult
00:21issues fudging, as I feel they were, frankly, for the last decade and a half. We've got to
00:26confront and say we will deliver growth, we'll do the difficult things to do that, we'll accept
00:32the trade-offs of doing that. And I, for one, am excited by that. I think there's huge opportunity
00:38in the UK. I think we also need to show people that government can deliver, whether that's on
00:42housing, transport, a whole range of things. I think people are losing faith across the world
00:47with democratic government as a way to do that. We can address the things that matter to them,
00:52and that is what this speech is about today. Well, first of all, we recognise as a government
00:57we've had to make some difficult decisions. That's just the reality of taking over from
01:01a difficult position. But we shouldn't forget that inflation is down, wages are up, business
01:06investment is at a record 19-year high, and we've had the growth projections for the UK revised
01:12upwards. But we want more. We'll only be satisfied when people feel in their pockets that they are
01:18better off, that their real disposable income has increased. And yes, some of the decisions today
01:24are about longer-term infrastructure projects. We are speeding that process up. But what you can do
01:29by getting across what we've tried to communicate today is that we are a government that's going to
01:33make a difference, we're going to do the difficult things, we'll generate optimism, excitement from
01:38that, and that in turn obviously feeds through to business confidence, to long-term investment,
01:42and to higher growth and better wages for people. Well, I think, look, when you have to make a
01:46difficult decision to keep the public safe, that is always the right decision. That should always come
01:53first. I'm not aware that the burdens of tackling the Excel bully problem are to a degree that
01:59requires a significant degree of additional national intervention around that, but I'm sure
02:05the Home Office, the Home Secretary, is monitoring that very closely and working with Chief Constables
02:09to make sure we're doing what is necessary around that. I mean, at the end of the day, it's got to be
02:14about keeping the public safe. That's got to come first before anything else.