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On a housing estate in Selby, a young couple with a baby tell me they have seen the dream of buying their family home turn to dust because of the Tory mortgage bombshell.
That encounter sticks with me. Good people, working hard, saving, bettering themselves – then seeing it cruelly snatched away through no fault of their own. The sheer unfairness of it is hard to stomach.
Millions of people in Britain today are already in this boat or about to be stranded on it. They are right to feel angry with a government and a country that is letting them down, that no longer seems to work. Everywhere you look – from the cost of living crisis to the NHS or the asylum system – things are broken.
This is what happens when a government loses control of the economy. Many key indicators – including mortgage rates – show things are worse today than they were in the death days of the Truss government. But the mess we’re in is symptomatic of a broader failure that spans the past 13 years. Only by sweeping away the entire, failed Tory approach can we rebuild our country.
But the hope that comes with the promise of a fresh start and a new way of doing things cannot be a codeword for recklessness. Pointing at problems and promising vast sums of money to fix them has too often been the comfort zone of Labour oppositions – and, inevitably, their final resting place.
If we are to turn things around, then economic stability must come first. That will mean making tough choices, and having iron-clad fiscal rules. The supposed alternative – huge, unfunded spending increases at a time when the Tories have left nothing in the coffers – is a recipe for more of the chaos of recent years and more misery for working people.
It is a mistake to believe that being responsible about spending somehow dampens how bold we can be. On the contrary, demonstrating our prudence allows us to be more radical with our plans to transform the country. The five missions I have launched – on growth, clean energy, an NHS fit for the future, safe streets and shattering the class ceiling – would reimagine Britain, its potential and its possibilities. Taking seriously the foundations of economic responsibility may not set people’s pulses racing, but the new country we can build on top of them will do.
Take, for example, the changes we will deliver to our planning system. They won’t cost a penny but they will ensure we build hundreds of thousands more homes and give families like the one I met in Selby their hope, their optimism and their future back. Our missions to halve violence against women and girls, deliver clean electricity by 2030 and secure the highest sustained growth in the G7, alongside plans for higher skills, a proper industrial strategy and regional innovation will give Britain the electric jolt it needs to shake it out of its Tory-induced torpor. Frankly, the left has to start caring a lot more about growth, about creating wealth, attracting inward investment and kickstarting a spirit of enterprise. It is the only show in town for those who dream of a brighter future.
This is the heart of our approach: getting Britain thinking big again. To do this requires reform first and foremost, rather than just more money. People will, of course, wonder what this means for public services. It is clear they have been left outmoded, outdated and run down. We must make them modern, innovative and focused squarely on the people who use them. But, given the state of the public finances, we will not be left with the money to simply service failure: it is reform or bust.
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That is going to mean a serious, properly thought-through rewiring and a big shift in mindset. Away from the sticking plaster politics of recent years and towards a strategic, long-term approach. Not top-down targets that try to bludgeon skilled professionals into inefficient processes, but empowering those on the frontline to deliver real improvements.
It will mean moving from a one-size-fits-all approach to bespoke services that work for people, seizing on the huge opportunities of technological advance. In medicine, we can now understand someone’s health risks by sequencing their DNA. We can create truly personalised care by designing drugs for single patients, based on what we know about their genetics. We will go further, faster by removing the barriers innovators still face in getting their products into the NHS.
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It will mean moving away from the highly centralised way services are currently delivered. Crucially, it must mean creating a prevention-first approach. Access to a trained mental health professional in every school, so that our children have the support they need. New mentors for young people who are most vulnerable to crime, supporting them to stay on the right path. I became an evangelist for this when I was director of public prosecutions because I saw time and again how acting early creates better outcomes and avoids huge costs later down the line when things go wrong.
There is no trade-off between reassurance and hope; spending money carefully and bold reform; knowing that we can only build something better if we first put down rock-solid foundations. That combination is not just the route to a Labour government: it is the route to real, meaningful change for millions across our country.
The Tories’ destruction of the economy and our public services has made the job ahead of us even harder and the recovery more difficult – but it has also made us steelier in our resolve to deliver the brighter future that Britain deserves.
