Labour will seek to paint itself as the party of financial responsibility by accusing the chancellor Rishi Sunak of a “cavalier” attitude towards spending public money.
In a bid to draw a line under Corbyn-era attacks that Labour believes in a ‘magic money tree’, shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds will highlight the government’s use of loans to businesses with no strings attached.
She will do that with Labour’s “responsible approach to the national finances”, in a speech to her party’s ‘virtual’ conference.
She will also publish a “file of failure” Labour said shows the billions of pounds wasted and mismanaged by ministers during the Covid crisis.
And she will champion a ‘Job Recovery Scheme’ that Labour said would allow businesses in key sectors to bring back more staff on reduced hours, with the government subsidising a proportion of wages for the rest of the working week.
Other ideas include more support for workers to retrain and a programme to target government support towards struggling but viable businesses.
Ms Dodds will say that ministers gave £130millon to a Conservative donor for testing kits that turned out to be unsafe and spent £150 million on face masks that were unsuitable for frontline NHS staff.
She will also try to build bridges with a business community often hostile to the party’s former leader
“As Chancellor, I would restore that trust with business. Because I understand what a critical role business plays in creating jobs and supporting livelihoods across the country,” she will say.
