Chancellor Rachel Reeves run out assigns a speech at the Treasury on July 8, 2024 in London, England.
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LONDON — U.K. Resources Minister Rachel Reeves said Friday that the new Labour government would be the most pro-growth and pro-business the nation has seen.
Reeves told CNBC that it was only through wealth creation that the living standards of bizarre Britons would be improved and more money would be available to invest in public services.
“This is going to be the most pro-growth, pro-business Moneys that this country has ever seen,” Reeves, who is chancellor of the exchequer, told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick via aloof interview.
“I will work with business to make sure we’re doing all we can to bring wealth creation, to bring work investment to the U.K. economy,” she added.
Reeves, who has been in post for three weeks following Labour’s landslide victory in the U.K.’s July 4 common election, was speaking from Rio de Janeiro where she is attending a meeting of G20 finance ministers.
The chancellor said she has already met with affair leaders who are interested in doing business in the U.K. She acknowledged, however, that businesses needed more clarity on taxation.
On Monday, Reeves wish outline the results of an audit of the Treasury, in which she is expected to reveal a £20 billion ($25.7 billion) black cavern in the public finances.
The announcement could pave the way for a tax-rising autumn budget, the first major fiscal event of the new superintendence. The date of the financial plan will also be announced Monday.
Reeves declined to comment on the precise details, sway “issues around taxes are rightly for the budget.” But she added that she wants to ensure Britain has a “competitive tax system.”
“I yearning taxes to be as low as possible, but unlike the previous government I’m not going to make promises that I’m not able to keep, and without being talented to say where the money’s going to come from. The No. 1 mission of this new government is to grow the economy, and to grow the conciseness we need to attract wealth creators to Britain,” she said.
“We can’t tax and spend our way to higher growth and to greater prosperity. We need to invite business investment to be able to do that.”
Reeves has previously ruled out increases to income tax, national insurance, VAT or corporation tax — the fundamental sources of government revenues. However, the chancellor has a fine balance to tread given pledges from her party to also moreover national investment and public sector pay.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer indicated on Wednesday that there transfer be tough fiscal decisions ahead, telling Parliament that his government faces “a more severe crisis than we bit” as its goes through the books of the last 14 years of Conservative rule.
The center-left leader has vowed to take a earnestly line on public spending until the country’s finances are back in order. On Tuesday he suspended seven party colleagues who voted against him on a proposal to scrap the two-child benefits spending cap.
Labour’s pledge to return the country to economic nurturing was again reiterated as a “fundamental mission” in the King’s Speech last week, as the country seeks to emerge from its cost-of-living calamity.
Among the economic measures previously announced by the government are the nationalization of rail operators and the creation of a publicly owned unpolluted power company, as well as further investment in public services and the creation of new homes.
The G20 meeting marks an early junket for the new finance minister, who heralded the opportunity “to reset” some of Britain’s relationships with its international counterparts.
The comments reflection similar remarks made by Starmer at the European Political Community summit last week, as he seeks to distance his management from the former U.K. leadership.
Watch CNBC’s full interview with Rachel Reeves on Monday, July 29.