The Labor Party is the “natural party of British business” and that includes paying bosses big wages, the party’s shadow chancellor has said.
In it first major speech of the election campaignRachel Reeves sought to persuade voters that Labor is now pro-business and pro-worker.
She also said they would bring the UK closer to the European Union, something the party had already announced, and “bring investment back to Britain”.
Reeves cited an open letter sent last night by 120 business leaders who support the Labor Party as evidence that the party has changed.
“Today I want to put forward a simple proposition that this transformed Labor Party is today the natural party of British business,” she said at the Rolls Royce factory in Derby.
“The choice before the British people on the 4th of July – five more years of chaos with the Conservative Party leaving workers worse off, or stability with a changed Labor Party.”
Reeves said the Labor Party wants to be a government that is “pro-worker and pro-business, knowing that each depends on the success of the other”.
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“I’m not one of those politicians who thinks the private sector is a dirty word or a necessary evil,” Reeves said.
“I worked in the private sector. Before entering politics, I worked in financial services in West Yorkshire.
“I know what a successful company can do for places like these. And I know that economic growth comes from the success of companies – large, medium and small.”
She said she was not a socialist, but a social democrat and is okay with company bosses getting very rich.
“I want companies to succeed, and that includes properly paying the people at the top for the work they do,” she said.
“But I am also committed to transforming the minimum wage into a real living wage, so that ordinary workers also benefit when the economy grows and succeeds.”
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The shadow chancellor said the Labor Party would “create a closer relationship with our closest neighbors in the European Union to ease the burden of bureaucracy and bureaucracy on British businesses”.
This includes a new veterinary agreement, an agreement on touring visas for musicians and mutual recognition of professional qualifications.
She also said that the Labor Party would bring investors to the UK “to bring growth back to Britain, to bring hope back to Britain… to provide a better future for working people”.
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Reeves said Labor’s plan to overhaul workers’ rights, called the “New Deal for Workers,” would give people the “security that should come from hard work… that doesn’t exist today.”
The Labor Party announced the policy a few weeks ago, before the election was called, and promises to “work with employers and workers, launch a “new partnership with business and unions” and “fully consult with business, workers and civil society”.
However, the party was accused of “watering down” the deal by Unite union general secretary Sharon Graham, who said the renamed version of the plans had “more holes than Swiss cheese”.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
