Angela Rayner has launched a broadside at Reeves and Starmer for their anti-hospitality economic policies today. Speaking at a ‘Nighttime Economy Summit’ in Liverpool just now the former DPM said:
“Now the government needs to plan to aid recovery to stabilise the cost to give businesses breathing space. I believe the government should look at how to support the night economy to thrive once again more seriously. Not ideology but pragmatically. But economic reform alone is not enough. We also need to look at how the system enables or too often restricts this sector’s ability to thrive.
That means recognising the value not just in rhetoric, but in policy. And this is where we must be candid. There is, without doubt, a clear divide between policy that truly understands the night time economy and policy that simply applies a one-size-fits-all approach.
“Too often, policy is done to this sector, not with it…Because confidence in matters. Businesses need to believe that they will be treated fairly, that the rules won’t shift without warning, that the long-standing structural issues will finally be addressed, not deferred again.”
This is highly ironic from Rayner who has consistently supported huge economy-killing tax hikes and continues to champion her Employment Rights Bill which will grind the labour market to a halt faster than any measure Reeves has so far tried. Rayner has been courting business in preparation for her push at No10. She was hosted for a wide-ranging dinner by entrepreneur and ally Matthew Freud in recent weeks. Ange has a beady eye on those bond markets…
Speaking on the Labour chaos over the last few weeks, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told The Guardian:
“You call it a sh*tshow, I say it’s unforgivable…It does look to people outside that we’re more interested in ourselves and less interested in preventing chaos. […] We’ve not done enough, and this has got to be the moment of reckoning where we say not just what are we here for, but who are we here for?”