Healey Tells Labour Conference He Will Keep Fiscal Rules

Chancellor John Healey told the Labour party conference in his first speech in the job that the government would hold to its fiscal rules, describing fiscal discipline as the condition on which every other promise depends.

Speaking on Monday, according to Theguardian’s live coverage, Healey said he and the prime minister are united on balancing the books with a buffer against uncertainty and on controlling borrowing to bring down inflation. He argued that losing control of the public finances is never progressive because working people pay for it.

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Key facts

• Healey announced a local apprenticeships service, backed by £100m funded from savings at the Department for Work and Pensions.
• The government has committed £6bn for contracts for British shipyards, including new submarine docks on the Clyde.
• Rolls-Royce announced on the day an extra £300m of investment in its British factories in Derby, Bristol, Glasgow and Rotherham.
• Healey said he will re-establish the union learning fund, which he said trained 180,000 workers a year before the Conservatives scrapped it.
• Healey said his fiscal headroom could be reduced by around £6.5bn because of falling immigration, according to a report cited in the conference coverage.

Apprenticeships and the benefits bill

Healey framed the apprenticeships plan as a downpayment on the Alan Milburn report on young people not in education, employment or training, due out soon. He said the service would be led by mayors, with local teams going to firms that have never taken on a trainee, and that every mayor would be able to take part.

He also set out a harder line on welfare, saying the social security system must always be there for those who can never work, but that for everyone else benefits should be a bridge to work rather than a trap. He described a growing benefits bill as neither progressive nor sustainable, and said he would not write off a million young people.

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Industry, AI and the union link

The chancellor tied the shipyard and Rolls-Royce commitments to what he called a new age of industrialisation, and credited the GMB union with helping the shipyard investment over the line. He defended union representation on the Bank of England’s court, saying Britain’s economic success depends on the success of working people.

On artificial intelligence, Healey said the technology sits at the centre of a wave of British tech companies and would transform business, hospitals and schools, while acknowledging risks to national security, personal data and children’s wellbeing. He committed that AI would not leave British workers behind.

In his closing passage he invoked Tony Crosland’s writing on the future of socialism and the idea that growth does not simply happen, saying the government must create the conditions for it. He also returned to a miner’s lamp he keeps at home as a symbol of solidarity.

Why it matters

The speech positions the Treasury’s fiscal rules as the binding constraint on Labour’s spending plans, which matters most to departments, mayors and unions hoping for more money. Emphasising the benefits bill and youth unemployment signals welfare and skills reform will carry the growth agenda. The opposition dismissed the announcements as reheated, and Healey’s own fiscal room for manoeuvre is under pressure from lower immigration, adding to the stakes when the Milburn report lands.

What to watch

The Alan Milburn report on those not in education, employment or training is due soon and will set out the scale of the challenge the apprenticeships service is meant to address. Minsterial decisions on the union learning fund and the detailed rollout of the £100m programme will follow.

Written by

Benjamin

Benjamin Carter covers business, finance, and the stock market for StockPil, focusing on the trends and data that matter to everyday investors.

Source: The Guardian