This means that critical decisions on where wind farms will be built in the UK would land in the in-tray of Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, regardless of local opposition.
Sovereign wealth fund and pension boost
Reeves confirmed the Labour government will shortly reveal plans to invest billions of pounds in a new national wealth fund to attract more international investment and help drive the UK towards net zero.
Led by former Bank of England governor Mark Carney, the group, which includes Barclays boss C.S. Venkatakrishnan wants Britain to invest more in projects such as carbon capture and green steel, with the aim of creating thousands of jobs along the way.
The party wants to attract £3 or more of private sector investment for every £1 of public money pumped into projects. More details of the fund’s aims will be revealed this week.
Reeves said the next steps will be revealed in “short order”, with an announcement expected on Tuesday.
She also suggested Labour would build on the work started by Jeremy Hunt, the former chancellor, to boost pensions.
“We will turn our attention to the pensions system, to drive investment in homegrown businesses and deliver greater returns to pension savers,” she said. Sir Jon Symonds, chairman of GSK, who advised Hunt on pensions, was in the audience and is said to be open about taking on a similar role in the Labour administration.
Going for growth
Labour’s first and arguably most important mission is to achieve the highest sustained growth in the G7.
Reeves claimed that Treasury analysis she commissioned over the weekend suggested that the UK economy was £140bn smaller than if it had grown at the OECD average of industrialised economies.
“That’s money that could have revitalised our schools, our hospitals, and other public services,” she told the audience.
Achieving this goal would mean growing faster than the US, which has expanded much faster than any other G7 nation since the pandemic. The world’s biggest economy is roughly 8.6pc larger than its pre-covid size, compared with 1.8pc for the UK.