Do Rachel Reeves’s growth plans go far enough?

Has Rachel Reeves got her growth? Today’s speech from the Chancellor in Oxfordshire was not this government’s first attempt to pivot towards a more business-friendly, growth-generating narrative. But it was its best effort yet. 

Starting with the highlights. Reeves threw her unabashed support behind a third runway at Heathrow, insisting that the expansion was ‘badly needed’ and that the case had never been stronger for boosting trade; the airport ‘connects us to emerging markets all over the world, opening up new opportunities for growth’.

She called on proposals to be submitted by the summer, to start a process that would ensure the fastest and best-value action was taken to get more planes on and off the ground. The announcement came just after her commitment to create ‘Europe’s Silicon Valley’ by better connecting and developing Oxford and Cambridge. She promised expanded train lines, a housing boom and a new ‘innovation hub’ attached to Cambridge University.