Politically Speaking column with Jade Botterill MP: Putting people first

Now this isn’t to say that these statistics aren’t vitally important, but we have to remember what ‘the economy’ is. It’s business owners who want to expand, young people wanting to put down roots and start a family, parents wanting a better life for their children, and pensioners enjoying their well-earned retirement.

When you talk about the economy, you are talking about people.

We are cutting the deficit faster than any other G7 economy, with borrowing £20 billion lower than the previous year and forecast to fall in every year of this Parliament. That matters because people need the government to be investing in public services, spending £1 in every £10 on debt interest.

Last year, productivity increased by 2.2 per cent, after decades of lagging behind similar countries, and we have increased business investment by 4.9 per cent over this Parliament. That matters because businesses investing and producing more means more jobs, more profits, higher tax revenues, and growing wages.

Let’s be clear, whether you look at the statistics or ask a person on the street, more needs to be done, but this is a step in the right direction.

That’s why the new Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey has announced we are going further to make sure the benefits of growth are felt by people in every postcode, not just big cities, and that the decisions that impact local people are made locally.

Too much power over these decisions have been centralised, with people in Whitehall making decisions over areas they don’t understand.

Having now seen it first hand, I’m not surprised that decision-makers in London were happy to see our communities deindustrialise, investment fall, and local business be muscled out by huge corporations. They were looking at the statistics, not the people.

We are changing that.

Labour is changing the process for accessing central government contracts, making it simpler and easier for smaller businesses to get the work, instead of funnelling money to the same few procurement companies.

We will also change the contracts so they place a much greater weight on British jobs, local skills, and apprenticeships, keeping profits and jobs in our community. Finally, instead of using public contracts thoughtlessly, we are using them to bring investment and jobs to the communities that need them.

We are also giving local leaders the levers and resources to build infrastructure and unlock latent potential across Britain, instead of relying on people in London who just don’t understand what our area needs, and how our community works.

This is what it means to have a Labour government which understands the economy has to work for everyday people, precisely because it is made of everyday people.