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Shadow chancellor’s value-for-money performance pays off | John Crace

Rachel Reeves shows Labour conference she’s credible but convincing the country is another matter

If you’re going to have a major row it’s probably as well to get it over as early in the conference proceedings as possible. To be fair, Labour could have done without the perfect storm of falling out about everything from changes to the leadership election rules, scumgate and cervixes on Sunday, but by the third day in Brighton things had more or less returned to an even keel. Delegates could get back to doing what they liked best. Agreeing that the Tories were a heartless, hopeless bunch without going to the trouble of wondering why voters kept electing a Conservative government.

Rachel Reeves was a case in point. Having begun her shadow chancellor speech in the now time-honoured fashion of every politician with a bit of personal backstory, Reeves moved on to the current government’s many failings. She was spoiled for choice. Energy prices, queues and panic buying – Boris telling everyone not to panic had exhausted what stocks remained – on garage forecourts, shortages of blood tests, the ending of the £20 universal credit uplift and the hike to national insurance contributions were just a few of the shitshows that came to mind. “If we take on Tory incompetence, we can win,” she said. Only to all intents and purposes, Labour have been looking for different ways to take on Tory incompetence for the past 11 years and have yet to find a way of winning power.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2ZqI0qT
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