A LABOUR MP has slated his party’s growth agenda saying it “reeks of panic”.
In a column for The Guardian, Clive Lewis said plans announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves earlier this week are “fraught with risk” and represent a “sign of desperation”.
Reeves announced major new investment plans including a third runway at Heathrow – something Labour have previously opposed – and proposals to realise the economic potential of the Oxford and Cambridge corridor.
She also promised a decision to expand Luton Airport and build an emergency runway at Gatwick Airport will be delivered soon, while the Government is set to work with local authorities to reopen the Doncaster Sheffield Airport.
Lewis highlighted how Reeves had once pledged to be the “first-ever green chancellor”, adding that that cost of going back on this will soon become “painfully clear”.
He said approving the Heathrow expansion is an “irreversible break” with Labour’s pre-election pledges and the U-turns the Government had implemented are “stacking up”.
“Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s recent ‘big growth agenda’ speech wasn’t just the expression of a vision for the economy, it was also a warning shot to wavering Labour MPs,” he said.
“The message was blunt: Get on board with the Government’s economic strategy or step aside.”
He went on: “This strategy is fraught with risk. Some may call it bold; others, a sign of desperation.
“A growing suspicion looms that our government lacks a coherent governing philosophy or ideological compass beyond the vague pursuit of ‘growth’.
“Why pledge to be clean and green, only to undermine that commitment with a Heathrow expansion promise six months later? Burning the furniture to stay warm doesn’t signal confidence – it reeks of panic.”
The Norwich South MP – who is a regular critic of the Government – speculated whether Donald Trump’s return to office had allowed Labour to ditch some of their previous environmental commitments.
“The Heathrow expansion and the realignment it signals do not insulate the UK from the political forces that enabled Trump, it accelerates them.
“Remember our pledge to rebuild trust in politics? Climate U-turns like this do the exact opposite. Indeed, they fuel the very climate scepticism the right peddles. After all, if we genuinely think the climate crisis is an existential threat, why undermine combatting it?”
Climate activists have responded with fury to the plans Reeves announced, with Green MSP Mark Ruskell calling the expansion to Heathrow a “disaster for future generations”.
Lewis said the winners from her plan will be “the same old symbols of financial capitalism’s excesses” while working-class communities will lose out.
He warned growth concentrated in “the hands of the few” will not translate into prosperity for normal people.
He said: “The losers? The very working-class communities that Labour has to champion, who will probably see little of the wealth generated while facing increased job insecurity from AI disruption, unaffordable housing due to continued speculative investment and environmental degradation from unbridled development.
“The economic orthodoxy the chancellor is embracing has been tried before. Joe Biden’s Democrats achieved GDP growth but still struggled against Trump’s populism. Why? Because growth, when concentrated in the hands of the few, does not translate into security or prosperity for the many.
“Reeves once championed the foundation economy – lifelong learning, public services, local industries and wealth redistribution. Whatever happened to that vision?”
Reeves’s plans were also slated by the SNP earlier this week for leaving Scotland in the lurch.
While her speech contained passing references to Scotland – including her hailing an existing funding deal for Glasgow and the economic benefits that expanding Heathrow would likely have for Scottish exports – critics said it contained “nothing for Scotland”, pointing out the “lack of announcements or investment beyond the south of England”.
