Deregulation, streamlining planning decisions, and clamping down on judicial reviews – you might have found much of what Rachel Reeves said on Wednesday a bit dry and abstract.
But keep reading, because it is also a very big deal, and years down the track will probably be looked back on – for good or for ill – as a definitive moment for Sir Keir Starmer‘s Labour government.
That’s because, on Wednesday, the chancellor finally laid out in no uncertain terms the scale of her ambition to deliver economic growth and the scale of the fights this government is prepared to have to achieve it.
Politics latest: Clashes over government growth plans
The promises were bold. She was going to unlock planning and cut down on judicial reviews in order to build 1.5 million homes across the UK.
Her government was going to crack on with the OxCam Arc to create “Europe’s Silicon Valley” with a new rail line to connect Oxford and Cambridge, better roads, and up to 18 new towns along that corridor.
And she was going to be the first chancellor to get planning approval for a third runway at Heathrow before the end of this parliament.
It’s quite the list: The third runway for Heathrow was first mooted in 2001 before being bogged down in years of political wrangling and legal challenges.
The OxCam Arc – first mooted in 2003 – was a key priority of successive Conservative governments, only to be shelved by Boris Johnson in 2021 as he shifted focus to “levelling up” in the north of England.
As for house building, prices remain well over five times average earnings, with previous governments’ building targets consistently missed.
Courageous or audacious? Take your pick.
What was clear from this speech is that Ms Reeves thinks she can succeed where so many politicians have failed and overcome significant opposition – from environmentalists, NIMBYs, MPs, her own Labour mayors – to do what countless other politicians have failed to do before her.
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