UK’s Labour Puts Economic Stability at Heart of Election Offer

Britain’s opposition Labour Party said on Tuesday it would prioritize economic stability if it won a national election on July 4, and its finance policy chief said she would focus on spurring successful businesses.
Less than a week after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shocked not only opposition parties but his own Conservatives by calling an early election, frontrunner Labour has repeatedly told voters they can trust a “changed party” to govern.
The party said it alone could provide the stability needed for investment, buttressing its argument with a letter of support signed by more than 100 business leaders.
“Stability, investment, reform – you’re going to hear those three words a lot from me because they are the ingredients of a genuine plan for the future,” Labour’s finance policy chief Rachel Reeves told an audience at a Rolls-Royce factory.
Under leader Keir Starmer, Labour, about 20 percentage points ahead of the Conservatives in surveys, has moved towards the centre after veering left under his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn. Reeves described the party as “pro-worker and pro-business.”
Signatories included the boss of the supermarket chain Iceland, the chairman of the retailer JD Sports, the head of the UK arm of advertising giant WPP, the former CEO of car maker Aston Martin and the founder of a childcare company that once included Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty as an investor.
In response, the Conservatives said business was concerned about Labour’s plans to protect workers’ rights, repeating the party’s message that “Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives have a clear plan that businesses can rely on.”
After an underwhelming start to the election campaign, Sunak has proposed tax cuts for millions of pensioners – the section of the electorate most likely to vote Conservative.